The Lost Wielders
by xXWolfBlazeXx
Summary: Lyra is a girl from an unknown city who has traveled to multiple cities all for one reason. A reason she won't tell anyone. Now she has arrived to Zuellini still with the same reason, but things start to change. She starts to learn more than just fighting. She learns value of friendship, teamwork, and love.
1. Chapter 1

_**So this is a fanfiction on an anime called Chrome Shelled Regios. I realize that this isn't that popular, but I love this Anime so I decided to write a story about it! So please read it and tell me what you think!**_

_CRASH!_

_The explosion was heard and echoed through out the area. Lyra cringed away as the rubble flew past her. A small piece ended up scrapping the side of her cheek. Lyra quickly brought her hand up to her cheek. It was sticky… She was bleeding now. She then blinked looking around. It was dark and cloudy. She could barely see what was going on._

"_Brother! Where are you?" she called out follow by a cough. She ended up inhaling some of the dust and it cause her to choke._

"_Lyra!" she heard a voice call out. "Lyra where are you?" he called out again._

_Lyra looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from. Around her she could hear rumbling and explosions. She could also hear grunts and people crying out in pain. All these sounds were confusing her. "Brother!" she cried out._

_Suddenly she felt someone appear behind her. Lyra tensed. She knew this was someone she didn't know. Mostly because of the amount of kei they were giving off. They were planning on striking. Slowly, Lyra turned her head and her prediction was correct. Behind her stood a figure in black with some sort of animal face. Lyra growled at the man. She pulled out a small white block from her back pocket. "Restoration."_

_She saw the figure react by moving his head towards her sword. Then the eyes started to glow. He then pointed at her and suddenly his sleeve was glowing and a large weapon appeared. Lyra managed to jump back in time as the weapon stretched out going passed the spot where her head had been seconds ago._

_Lyra narrowed her eyes waiting for the man to move. Suddenly he disappeared. Lyra's eyes widened as she panicked. Where did he go? She then felt someone appear behind her. Lyra quickly spun around and found the same figure there. He was in the process of striking her and brought her dite up to block it._

_Luckily she blocked but it didn't matter. He ended up knocking the sword down and then swung his Dite horizontally. Lyra brought her hands up in defense hoping to block, but she looked away at the last second, out of fear. This was it. She was done. Brother…_

_She could feel the gush of wind coming from all directions as the battle was going on. Suddenly she felt an arm wrap around her and pull her forwards followed by a clanging noise of two weapons making contact. Lyra's eyes shot open. Someone was holding her close. Her first thought was, it was her brother, but then she noticed the lock of red hair._

"_Dixerio!" she gasped surprised._

"_Now what are you doing, trying to take on these people." He started in a scolding manner. He then jumped forwards and landed behind a pillar and placed Lyra down. "Stay right here." Lyra just nodded not being able to speak. He was then off. Lyra peaked out from behind the pillar to see Dixerio charging at the man with electricity emanating from the blade. He then swung across and the small currents of electricity traveled though the air and struck the black hooded figure and then he finished him off._

_Lyra was now standing in front of the pillar watching. Dixerio turned around and frowned seeing her on the other side. "You honestly can't sit still can you?"_

_Lyra just hurried over to him. "Brother? Where is he?" she demanded. Last time she had seen her brother, he was with Dixerio. Now Dixerio was here and he wasn't. That worried Lyra._

"_Relax, he's here somewhere." Dixerio assured, looking around, "Stay close now, don't want you getting lost." He said as he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her away from rubble that fell. "This way." He ordered as he started heading towards the dock where the roaming buses were boarded. Lyra followed behind him. She couldn't help but stare at the rubble around her._  
_What was going on here? She thought. They arrived to the docking station where it was even more chaotic. People were lining up trying to get in the roaming. There weren't many left now._

_Lyra was looking out trying to find her brother. "Brother!" Lyra called out looking for her brother._

"_Yo Satoshi! Where are you?" Dixerio called out._

"_Here!" They heard someone grunt as they responded. Both turned towards a small explosion and saw someone appearing from within the smoke. His uniformed was drenched in some sort of blood. "Sorry got caught up with a couple things." He explained as he hurried over. He then looked down at Lyra, "Come on you have to get on the last bus. It's about to leave!" He urged her towards the bus._

"_What about you?" she asked stopping in the doorway._

"_I have to stay back and protect the city." He replied._

"_Then I want to stay back and help!" the young girl demanded, stubbornly, "I can fight! You know it!" She insisted, holding on to his arm_

"_There is no way I'm letting you stay back here when Filth monsters are destroying the city!" he answered sternly._

"_But-" she started_

"_Don't worry… I'll be fine…" her brother gave her an assuring smiling._

_Lyra sighed, turning towards Dixerio. "Are you staying as well?" she asked._

_She saw Dixerio smirked, "You know I can't just leave your brother by himself now can I?" he shrugged. Lyra looked like she was about to protest, but just then the driver called out they were about to depart._

_She got on to the bus, "promise you'll write whenever you can." She turned around facing Satoshi._

"_I will, but you better write when you get there." He gave her a hug._

"_I will. I'll write right when I get to the next city." She said returning the hug._

_Dixerio then stepped forwards to pat her head, "Take care Lyra-Chan." He smiled. Lyra felt a little lightheaded afterwards._

_Satoshi watched him step back then turned towards Lyra. "Make sure you write and tell me everything that's going on. I've given you money, don't…"_

"_Yo Satoshi, we don't have all day!" he heard Dixerio call out._  
_Satoshi glanced back at him and saw Dixerio standing there with a smirk, ready to stop his brother from going on another rant. "Alright!" he called out. Then to her, "bye." He said taking a step back._

"_Good bye! I'll miss you!" she said getting tears in her eyes._

"_Yeah… I'll miss you as well…" he said as the door closed. The bus started to depart and soon it was out of the station._

"_Did you really have to do that?" Satoshi asked turning towards the red haired man next to him._

"_Hey it was better this way," he shrugged, "Now she'll only worry about one person."_

"_But…you guys…"_

"_Hey it's done now, no turning back." Dixerio stopped him flatly, turning around. Satoshi sighed watching the bus drive off._

"_Be safe…" he thought as it got farther and farther. He could see his sister's face out of the window staring at them. He wanted to scold her to go sit down in a seat and stop worrying. Just then they heard a rumble. Satoshi and Dixerio turned around as the ground beneath their feet shook. Then from bellow the floor, a huge Filth Monster came shooting up. It flew up into the air and let out a deafening roar._

_Satoshi and Dixerio both raised their arm, covering themselves from the rubble. "Great now there're Filth Monsters?" he groaned as he looked up from behind his arm._

"_Things just keep getting more interesting…" his red haired friend replied as his sword appeared getting it ready._

"_Care to take it down?" Satoshi looked at him. Dixerio just smirked looking back at him._

"_Fine…" Satoshi sighed understanding the look._ _He pulled his dite out twirling it in front of him._ _"Restoration." He called out as a silver light emerged and his dite appeared showing a lance. He looked at Dixerio and they both nodded charging at the creature._

_They both charged at the creature going off in different directions. The creature went after Dixerio biting down towards him. Satoshi took the opportunity to slice down at him. Just then the ground started to shake. There was a bright light and next thing you know there was a huge explosion…_

"Brother!" Lyra exclaimed sitting up in bed. She panted, looking around in panic and then froze realizing where she was. It was her room. Lyra then sighed, relaxing a little. Her heart was still racing and she could feel her body shivering.

Lyra sighed as she brought her covers around herself. _'That dream again…'_ she thought rubbing her head. She shuddered when thought of the Filth Monster from her dream. It was flashes of her last moments in that city with her brother. Lyra frowned as she remembered that. Her brother stayed back to protect the city while she escaped. The thought bothered her. Every time she thought of her brother she would scold herself for easily giving in and leaving. She should have stayed back and help, but what could she do? When she did get the opportunity to fight, she almost got killed, so of course her brother would send her off, but that was going to change. Now that she was at this school, she was going to get stronger. After the escape the roaming bus ended up in Grendan. Because of her age, Lyra had an escort and she was taken to some small orphanage and where she pretty much restarted her life. She wrote back to her brother, but there was never a reply. That worried her. Lyra then decided that she was going to major in Military Art and then once she was strong, she would go back and find her brother and the two would then continue on doing what they promised their parents. But Grendan refused. Instead, she was told to enroll in a smaller Academy thus how she ended up here in Zuellini, her new school.

_New school…_ It was her first day. Lyra felt her stomach turn at the thought. Things were going to be difficult, especially since she was arriving half way through the first semester. She slowly got out of the warmth of her bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up. Looking at herself in the mirror, she frowned at how her hair was messy. It always got tangled up. No matter what she did. That and then she noticed the small line running along her cheek. Lyra leaned in to get a better look. It was back again. It wasn't very noticeable, but it still bothered Lyra. It always reminded her of that day… After giving up on that, Lyra washed up, dressed herself, wearing her military arts uniform. her military uniform, and then sat down to comb her hair.

As she did, Lyra looked at herself in her She didn't have a platoon badge yet. Since it was her first day, she really didn't know where she was going, but one thing was clear. She was joining Military Arts.

That was her goal at least. Hopefully they would allow her unlike the Queen. For some reason, she wouldn't let Lyra enroll in the Military Arts programs in Grendan.

Once she was ready, Lyra headed down the hall of her dorm, and headed out to go to school. She let out a sigh as the morning breeze welcomed her. The city was beautiful, students walking around, minding their own business. It reminded her of home back in Grendan. She felt pang of guilt in her chest thinking of her best friend Leerin whom she left back home.

"_Are you seriously going to leave Lyra?" Leerin asked the two were standing at the station, waiting for a train to come to take her to the boarding dock._

_Lyra bit her lip and nodded. "Yes Leerin… I can't stay here…" She replied._

"_But why? First Layfon and now you." Leerin protested. Lyra felt a pang of guilt. This was the same station Layfon used and this was the second time she had to say farewell to a good friend._

"_I'm sorry Leerin but I can't stay here…" Lyra replied uneasy._

"_What do you mean you can't? Don't tell me the queen is forcing you to leave too!" Leerin replied shocked._

_Lyra just smiled shaking her head, "No… but she did say that if I can't get stronger here and I should leave if I want to find him."_

_Leerin stared her trying to find a way to convince her. Then she sighed looking down, "There's no way I can convince you is there?"_

"_Well you know me… once I want something, I get it." Lyra replied rubbing the back of her neck._

"_If you see Layfon… will you tell him I said hi?" she asked shyly._

_Lyra looked up at the sky, "I don't know I'll be going to the same place as him… but sure I will." Lyra said hugging her friend._

_Leerin returned the hug. After that the trolley arrived. They pulled away. Lyra took a deep breath watching it pull up._

"_Well, bye Leerin." Lyra smiled sadly at her friend getting on the trolley._

"_Promise you'll write whenever you can." Leerin said._

"_I'll will but you better write as well." Lyra replied. The door to the trolley closed and she was off for the roaming bus._

Lyra arrived to the Academy now. She looked up at the large building before her. It was big for an Academy though Grendan's was bigger.

Lyra looked around uncertain of where to go. Supposedly someone was supposed to come for her and take her to the President, but she couldn't see anyone around. Was she supposed to go inside?

"Excuse me but are you Lyra Tekeshi?" she turned around and saw a woman standing there.

Lyra blinked. Where did she come from? "Um… yea that's me." she replied.

The woman smiled nodding, "Come this way. The President would like to speak with you." She said turning around and she started walking.

"Ok…" Lyra replied following.

The woman led her up to a room. She opened the door and inside the President sat at his desk. She knew he was the president since she met with him the other day to talk about what she wanted to do. He had long silver hair and he sat at his desk with his hands crossed in front of him and his chin and his eyes hidden by the light reflecting off of his glasses. He smiled lifting his head as they entered. Lyra then heard shifting and that's when she noticed another girl sitting on the couch. She turned her head to look at them. Both Lyra and the girl's eyes met and they smiled to each other. She had short blonde hair wearing and was wearing a military arts uniform as well.

"Ah here she is." The president announced standing up, "Nina I want you to meet Lyra Tekeshi. Lyra this is Nina Antalk." He introduced.

"Hi there." They both said to each other in unison followed by a wave.

"Nina is the captain of the 17th Platoon. Which is the Platoon I'm assigning you to." The president went on explaining. Lyra blinked. So it was already decided? But she never even got a chance to say anything.

"It's nice to meet you." Nina greeted her standing up to shake her hand, "I'm sure you'll be a great help to the Platoon."

"Nice to meet you…" she started awkwardly, but quickly fixed herself, "I hope I'll be of some help." Lyra replied the same way.

"Now that that's done with, why don't you go ahead back and introduce her to the other. Lyra we'll talk about the Scholar ships afterwards" He said signaling them out. Lyra blinked in surprise. _These people like to get to the point…_

"Of course." Nina said as they left.

It was quiet as they walked out of the office. Lyra was looking around at the different buildings. Students were walking around heading to different

"I'm so glad that you'll be join our platoon. We were a little short on members." Nina suddenly spoke. It made Lyra jump and she turned back to her now captain.

"Short?" Lyra asked.  
Nina nodded her head. "Most people tend to say that the 17 platoon is made up of left over's." Nina explained.  
Lyra smirked hearing that. "Leftovers huh?" she remembered hearing people saying things like that while she was on her way to talk with the president. "Why do they say that?" she asked.

"I don't know. They think they're all better." Nina said making a scowling face. "That and in a way… we do have a random group that could be considered leftovers…" she replied realizing.

Lyra frowned at that. "What do _you_ think?" she asked Nina.

Nina looked at her before looking up at the sky. "I think that if we can just work together and be serious then we could be the best platoon possible." Nina said looking up at the sky.

Lyra nodded her head with her eyes closed. "Good think that. Who cares what others have to say. If you think your team is capable of it then that's all that matters right?" she asked.

Nina smirked nodding, "I can tell that we're going to get along great." She remarked.

Lyra just looked up at her with a grin "I hope we do. Or else things will just be awkward.

~**xXx**~

It was a quiet day in the dojo. Not much was going on. Layfon stood there with his dite out. There were a couple wires connected to the blue sword and they were leading back to a computer where Harley sat looking at. He kept squinting, reading something, and then writing it down. Layfon just sighed as he went off in thoughts. Little did he realize that he had broken his concentration in the amount of Kei flowing into the sword. That is until, he heard Harley starting to protest.

"Too much Layfon! Too much!"

Layfon jumped and quickly brought his control on his kei back. "Sorry about that Harley." He apologized with a nervous chuckle.

Harley just shook his head and mumbled something about how they didn't care for their dites. Layfon just smiled nervously. He had recently over worked his dite again. Harley kept yelling at him about it and now here he was checking to see how much damage had actually been done.

Harley sighed as he got up, "Well luckily there isn't anything too serious. Though you really should be careful with it. Any more unnecessary things and it'll probably break.

"Right…" Layfon nodded.

They then heard the door open followed by loud yawn. "Yooo." Layfon and Harley both looked up at the door and saw Sharnid walking in. As usual he was late. It was actually a miracle that he came today. "Morning." They both nodded to him.

Sharnid stopped in the hall, looking around. "Where's Nina?"  
Harley and Layfon both shrugged.

"My brother said he needed to talk to her." A monotone voice spoke up. Sharnid blinked and then moved out of the way and Felli came in.

"Ah Felli, so you showed up as well huh?" he smirked.  
Felli didn't say anything but just walked in and sat down along one of the benches, against the wall.

Sharnid then frowned, "Seriously, the day she tells us all to be early and to actually be here is the day she comes in late."

"Like I said, my brother needed to talk with her." Felli replied, looking up at them.

Sharnid shook his head, "She's probably slacking off."

"Eh… I don't think captain would be the one to slack." Layfon started nervously. They then heard the door open.

"Oh look who finally showed up." Sharnid remarked as they all turned around and saw Nina standing in the doorway.

Nina frowned looking at him. "So you actually came." She growled, but then her face instantly brightened as she looked at everyone. "Sorry I'm late, guys. I was talking with the president and a new recruit." She explained.

"Recruit?" they all repeated. Well. Layfon, Harley, and Sharnid did. Felli just narrowed her eyes.

Nina nodded stepping away to reveal another girl, with black hair. She was tucking it out of her face at the time and blinked looking around the dojo.

"Wow… this place is huge!" she remarked.

Before Nina could say more, Layfon took a couple steps forwards, dropping his dite. In the back Harley could be heard freaking out and trying to catch it. "Be careful!" he said.

Layfon ignored it. He stared at the girl. She looked so familiar, but why? That's when it hit him. It him at the same time Nina had started speaking again.

"Let me introduce you to—"

"Lyra!" Layfon suddenly blurted out. That caused everyone to jump. The girl turned towards him blinking as she heard her name being called out and suddenly her eyes widened.

"L-Layfon?" she took a step back.

Layfon nodded his head taking a couple steps forwards. "What are you doing here? Why did you come here?" he stared asking, excitedly but was stopped by a cough.

Nina looked between the two of them, not expecting this reunion. "You two know each other?" Nina asked looking back and forth between the two.

Layfon blinked, remembering where he was. "Well… Um… Yeah. I mean we're both good friends and from the same city." Layfon explained.

Nina nodded her head, her eyes still narrowed slightly annoyed but then her face brightened and she was smiling. "Well good then. You won't feel as awkward. Anyways for everyone else, this is Lyra Tekeshi. She is a new student to Zuellini and will be joining our platoon." Then to Lyra she pointed them all introducing each. They all smiled saying their hellos except Felli who just nodded her head again. She didn't seem that interested, but she was still part of it.

Lyra smiled nodding to everyone. "Nice to meet you all." She smiled, bowing a little.

Nina nodded her head, "Alright now on with the examination." She decided getting straight to the point.

Lyra blinked. "E-examinations?" she asked, obviously confused and suddenly fearful. She didn't know there was another exam she had to take. She thought she was done everything.

"Don't worry." Layfon stepped in. It's just to see what type of fighter you are so we can organize our training around that." He explained.

"Oh!" Lyra nodded her head, relaxing.

Nina nodded her head. "You obviously know about platoon matches and based on your style of fighting, I can see where you would fit in with our strategies."

Lyra nodded her head understanding. "Um… but I don't have a dite…" she explained. The dite she had in Grendan was a borrowed one, which had turned was given to her by a friend, but Lyra decided to give it back to her friend when she was leaving. She told her friend to keep it safe for her in case she ever needed it or to just use it herself, but her friend said that she's keep it safe.

"That's okay!" Harley came over with a box. "These are some dites that don't have any memory stored in them. You can use one right now and then later we'll actually work on making a custom made dite for you." He explained.

Lyra nodded her head. "Thanks!" she said as she reached into the box and pulled out a green one. Lyra looked at it, before restoring it.

"Restoration." She said and out emerged a small sword. Lyra twirled it around. It was light. A little lighter than the one she used to have.

"Remember these have no memory in it so be a little careful with these." He said.

Lyra nodded her head and swung it once to get the kei flowing through it. She then turned towards Nina. "Okay I'm ready." She said.

"All right lets go. Restoration!" Nina announced with a dual pair of black swords emerging. She charged at Lyra barely giving her time to get ready. Nina and jumped in the air and came slamming down. Lyra quickly stuck her dite up at the last minute to parry the attack. She then ran forwards along her whips and focusing the kei in her hand she aimed for Nina's stomach.

Nina's eyes widened as she saw the move and barely dodged it. "Hmph, that's pretty good there. I'm impressed." She remarked. Lyra didn't say anything but just focused, preparing herself for the next move.

Everyone else had moved back now along the wall of the dojo now.

"Jeez couldn't they give us some sort of warning before starting?" Harley sighed.

Sharnid just laughed, "This is Nina remember that." He replied as he watched the two girls run at one another. At the last second, Lyra went slashing out and Nina jumped over her and then went slashing out at her back.

Lyra quickly spun around, her sword ward glowing a strange green color. As soon as it made contact with one of Nina's whip. Nina froze. Her arm suddenly went limp and then Lyra took the opportunity to push Nina back. She could have easily defeated Nina right there, but at the last second Nina took her other whip and aimed right at Lyra's head, causing her to move back.

Nina looked at her. "So you have a lightning affinity don't you?" Nina noted as she rubbed her arm. "That's interesting…" she thought to herself. Then she charged at Lyra again.

Off on the bench, Layfon was still standing watching the fight, while Sharnid had sat down leaning against the wall with his arms crosses and Harley was seated on the ground wrapping up the wires to his computer while watching.

Sharnid then whistled, impressed by the fight. "Wow she's doing way better than you when you first fought Nina." Sharnid noted.

Layfon just shrugged, "Well I didn't really want to fight then remember?" He felt Felli glaring at him. Layfon just bit his lip. When he first came he didn't even want to be part of the military arts. Lyra on the other hand came here prepared to go into the military arts. But if she was here then that means something happened. Layfon was confidant that it wasn't anything bad, but why was she here.

They watched as the two continued to fight, dodging each other's moves.

"Heh Nina actually seems to be enjoying this." Sharnid noted. Layfon looked at Nina's expression. She was actually smiling. For once she didn't have that angered frustrated look.

"I feel like having Lyra on the team is going to help Nina a lot." Harley remarked. Layfon nodded in agreement. Nina would always be frustrated after practice because of the out comes like Layfon only working, Felli doing what she feels like, Sharnid making excuses.

Suddenly they heard an explosion. Layfon jumped out of his thoughts looking up. There was smoke in the area.

"What… just happened?" he asked.

Sharnid sighed, "Nina did something…" he explained sitting up. The smoke started to clear and then they saw two figures lying there. Lyra was against one wall and Nina was against the other.

"Whoa…" They all stared comprehending what just happened.

"Ands that's what happens when Nina gets too excited." Sharnid clapped his hands.

"We better take them to the hospital." Felli stated.

They all sighed and nodded getting up.


	2. Chapter 2

_It was cold. Very cold. So cold that it woke Lyra up. She tried to curl herself into a ball to conserve some warmth, but then realized. This wasn't the nice, comfortable bed that she was laying on. It was a cold, hard surface and it was dark and chilly._

_Lyra rubbed her eyes a couple times trying to make out where she was. Slowly, her eyes were starting to adjust. She felt around herself before standing up. It was a dark room. It reminded Lyra of a lab from one of her classes back in Grendan when she was in Biology studies._

_Lyra started to walk around at a slow pace. As she walked, her footsteps echoed. Her eyes were adjusting slowly to the place and she was able to make out more things. This definitely was a lab, but where? Grendan? No, it couldn't be Grendan. How would she have gotten back here? Unless this was a dream, but if that was the case, why could she feel the coldness?_

_Then again… it could be a lucid dream… It could have been her body was cold in reality and she was experiencing the same coldness in this dream._

_Lyra rubbed her eyes a couple times trying to make out where she was, but it was no use. She felt around herself before standing up. Now she was able to make some things out. It was a dark room. It reminded Lyra of a lab from one of her classes back in Grendan when she was in Biology studies._

_Slowly, Lyra started to walk around. Her footsteps echoed as she walked. What kind of lab was this? Luckily her eyes had adjusted to the darkness now. Lyra saw a wall appear. She placed her hand on it and followed until she found the door. As her fingers wrapped around the handle, Lyra froze. She wasn't the only one in the area. Various amounts of kei were being emitted and it was all coming from behind the door._

_All of them were familiar, but not in a good way. Feeling their presence made her shiver. It was them..._

_Slowly Lyra opened the door. It was much darker in this room. There was no source of light in this room. She entered carefully. A wiser person would have most likely stayed in that room when sensing the threat, but Lyra was different. She was curious._

_Lyra walked carefully and cautiously. She couldn't help but feel that she wasn't the only one in the area and she knew she wasn't. She could sense various amounts of kei in the area. They were coming from different parts of the area she was in the area. But why weren't they attacking?_

_As she walked in deeper, the door suddenly went slamming shut, leaving the place pitch black. Lyra jumped from the loud echoing noise that was made from the slam. She then blinked a couple times, before deciding to channel some kei towards her eyes to enhance them and focus better. She decided to channel some towards her ears as well to make sure nothing popped up behind her._

'_Much better.' She thought and soon started to walk again. As Lyra looked around she could see tall cylinder like tank lying there. She furrowed her brows as she noticed them and walked up towards one. It was empty and open. But then what was its purpose? Before Lyra could think of a reason, she felt someone appear behind her. Instincts took over and Lyra ducked as she felt something brush over her hair._

_Lyra then rolled to the side and looked up to see a cloaked figure standing there with his dite extended out over the area where he head would have been._

_Lyra's eyes narrowed. "You again…" she recognized the figure. They turned towards her, not saying anything._

_Lyra stood up straight and reached for her dite. Her eyes widened as she realized she didn't have it with her. She glanced down to see if it may have been there, but there was nothing._

_Lyra then felt a breeze and looked to see the figure had appeared in front of her and before she could react, he went lashing out at her._

_Lyra grunted as she went flying back, crashing into the wall. "D-Damn you…" she panted as she stood up straight again. The wall behind her had cracked from the force of being thrown back. Lyra stumbled to take a step forwards. Everything was hurting now. She had not been prepared for that attack and because of that, took unnecessary damage. It was stupid of her. She should have seen it coming._

_Lyra took a couple deep breaths and then looked up. There were two of them now. Lyra's eyes narrowed._

"_You guys, seize to surprise me…" she muttered as the second one restored his dite. The two then disappeared. Lyra's eyes widened for a second and she glanced behind her before ducking as one appeared to her left trying to strike. She then rolled away as the second one struck down. The floor tiles went flying everywhere as the blade went smashing down._

_Lyra coughed a couple times and then went to get up, but then she felt shocking pain in her side. "Damn…" the first strike did way more damage than she had expected._

_The two were now walking towards her. One sent out a large blast of kei. Lyra rolled out of the way as it struck the wall. The large moon was right there, brightening up the place. Lyra had to shield her eyes at first and allow her eyes to adjust again, which they immediately did. She then felt the other one appear right before her. Lyra jumped back to where she originally had landed in front of the hole now._

_They both had her surrounded. One stood in front of her a couple feet away and the other one was standing where she had jumped._

"_Just what do you want?" she demanded, but got no response._

"_You are finished," the man said._

_Lyra's eyes narrowed and grit her teeth, trying to figure out their next move and react based on that._

"_Really? Two on one, isn't really fair now."_

_Lyra tensed as she saw a shadow being casted over on her. Someone was standing the hole that had been created. Before Lyra could even react, she felt the person jumping over her and then the man was striking down the figure to her left. By the time Lyra turned that way, she saw the person collapsing and the man was now running towards the figure that stood in front of Lyra._

_Lyra watched as he was struck down. The figure let out a cry as he was struck and fell to his knees._

"_Heh… too easy." the man smirked._

_The cloaked figure lied there panting. "Heh… you think you've won don't you? Too bad… now that we have found her, we will win."_

_Lyra's brows furrowed hearing that. What did they mean by that? She looked up at the man who sighed, shaking his head. "Too bad… I'm not gonna let that happen." He said. She then raised a brow hearing that, but then_

_The cloaked figure just laughed, before disappearing. Lyra's eyes widened seeing that. What was going on?_

_She heard walking and watched the man come towards her. As he stepped into the moonlight she saw the red hair and familiar green jacket. "It's you again…"_

"_Now you should know better than to run into a rundown building at night." The man remarked, his face suddenly holding the familiar smirk again._

_Lyra just stared at him. His face seemed so familiar. But why? Why was he so familiar? Who was he?_

"_Hey, you okay?" the man asked her._

_Lyra jumped, clearing her mind and then sat straight, finally relaxing herself. "I'll be fine. Thanks for the help." She replied._

"_No problem! Though like I said, you really should know better than to run into a suspicious place, unarmed."_

_Lyra shrugged, "Well you as a stranger have no right to scold me like that." Speaking of which, how did she even end up in this place? What was going on?_

"_Well a stranger still has the right to tell you right from wrong." the man sighed._

_Lyra's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head to the right, "You know? You're right. I shouldn't call you a stranger. We know each other. Why?"_

_The man just chuckled, "It's strange how the human mind works. Oh well. It's late now and you look hurt. Come on, I'll walk you home." He said as he reached towards Lyra. Lyra looked up and saw his hand hover over her head. She felt something warm wrap around her and soon everything blacked out._

"_Rest now Lye… You'll remember soon enough." A voice echoed in her head._

Lyra woke up welcomed by the bright light shining through the window. She squinted her eyes trying to look around. She shifted a little in her bed, which led to a throbbing pain that made her cringe and stop. Lyra tensed.

Pain… Was that from the match with Nina or last night? Last night? No that was a dream. But it felt so real. Was it real? It couldn't have been real. She was in a lab. It was a lab from Grendan.

No…

Now that she thought about it, it wasn't a lab from Grendan. The labs in Grendan were much bigger and different. Then where was that?

Lyra decided not to think to much about it. She glanced at the clock, and saw it was late in the afternoon. Late in the afternoon? How long had she been out?

"Damn it… why does everything have to be so confusing?" she growled to herself.

She then heard the door open and turned her head and saw Layfon enter.

"Oh your awake." He noted walking in.

Instantly Lyra's face brightened. "Hey Lay-chan." She smiled to him. That was her name for him. No one else was allowed to call him that and he knew it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked pulling up a chair next to her bed and sat down in it.

"Ok… I guess… a little sore, but I'll be good. How long was I out?" She asked, scooting up so she was sitting up. It hurt, but she bore with it.

"About two days." Layfon replied.

"Two Days?!" she exclaimed moving forwards and then cringed as she felt the pain.

"Relax… it's only a day and half, almost two." He reworded what he said. Lyra just sighed leaning back staring at the ceiling. She placed a hand on her stomach, feeling the pain throbbing there.

"You okay?" Layfon asked, noticing.

Lyra looked over at him and then nodded, smiling. "I'm fine. I guess I just over did it." She replied debating whether to tell him about the dream. Layfon and Leerin… those two know about the dreams and the strange man that always appeared.

Instead she just sighed, relaxing herself. As she did, she could feel the pain decreasing. _Way to go Lyra… first day of school and you get yourself knocked out…_

It was quiet for a bit, but then Layfon spoke up. "So how are things in Grendan?" he asked.

Lyra just shrugged, "Well not much has changed.. Leerin still misses you." She explained. She then felt guilt rush through her again as she remembered her friend's tear-stained face fading away as she left in the train.

Layfon smiled at that. "Yeah she writes to me every week." He replied. Though he was smiling, Lyra knew he was feeling the same guilt as her for having to leave. Because of Layfon, they two had lost a lot of respect, but still the two moved on.

Lyra then sighed, not liking the silence that was forming again. "So how have things been for you? I thought you said you were going to start over." She asked facing him. Of course they had just met after years and with everything that had happened, it was somewhat depressing, which is what kept the silence forming.

Layfon let out a small laugh, "Well… I was planning on it, but ended up saving someone and then Student Council President wanted me to join the Military Arts." He explained with a sigh.

"Obviously you would…" She rolled her eyes laughing.

"More like forced to…" he sighed running his hand through his hair, "So what about you? Why did you come here?" he suddenly asked.

Lyra tensed up for a second. Obviously that question was going to come up. Her face softened a little, " I didn't get in trouble, if that's what you think." she started, "but… I'm tired of waiting."

Layfon's face softened as he understood what she meant. "So he still hasn't returned?" he asked.

Lyra shook her head. "And the dreams are getting weirder.

Layfon's face brightened a little "So you're remembering more?" he asked hopefully.

Lyra nodded, "not only that but more people are in it. People I've never seen before."

Layfon nodded listening. "What about that one man?" he asked.

Lyra just nodded her head. "Yes, he's still there. Though recently. It was weird…"

"Did you have one again?" he asked.

Lyra nodded, "Twice. One was the first day of class and then there was another last night."

"Were those strange figures there as well?" he asked.

Lyra nodded again, "In the last one, the people and the man conversed. They said something about now being able to defeat us since they knew where I was." She explained to him the dream she had with her in the lab and the attack.

She trailed off seeing Layfon with narrowed, "That's really strange…"

"Why…?" Lyra asked nervously.

"While coming in, there were a lot of student officers and part of the hospital was closed off.

Lyra blinked, "Really? What happened?"

Layfon shrugged, "They wouldn't tell us. But apparently something happened last night in one of the labs. The entire section is shut down." He explained, "Which worries me. Are you sure it was a dream that you had last night?" he asked.

Lyra stared at her bed sheets thinking, "Yes… it had to have been. I mean if it really did happen then I would have been in worse conditions right? Plus I woke up in bed."

Layfon sighed, "I don't know Lyra… but this can't be good now. These aren't just dreams anymore."

"You think they're real?" she asked.

Layfon shrugged, "I don't know. That's something that you should be able to tell."

Lyra shook her head, "They're all like dreams. If it were real I would have know.

Layfon shrugged, "I don't know. But I would be careful while here now Lyra."

Lyra just sighed as she leaned back on her bed, scooting down. "Well yeah… Obviously… This time I'm not going to be a burden."

"But why here?" he asked.

Lyra blinked as she thought. "Well… Some how the queen found out about me wanting to switch into the Military Arts there and she refused. Instead she told me if I really wanted to join then I should go to Zuellini." Lyra explained.

"I see…well I have to say, you've improved a lot." Layfon complimented.

"Well it helps having your strong brother's best friend teach you, you know?" She stated, "but that was all I knew when we first used to spar. Savaris taught me a lot that I know now."

Layfon gaped and almost fell out of his chair. "What? You trained with him?"

Lyra couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah its true…" she explained, "I was out in the forest training, working on a certain move when suddenly Savaris appeared offering me help."

Layfon thought for a second before replying, "I guess it has to be true… especially for someone who recently started fighting."

"Yea, he's been training me for three years now." She added.

"Wait… three years?" Layfon blinked.

Lyra just nodded, "Why do you think I always got closer to beating you near the end?"

"How come you never told me?" he asked.

"Eh… that was at his request…" she replied.

Layfon just nodded his head slowly.

"How's the Captain?" Lyra asked suddenly.

"Oh the Captain is fine, she's resting now."

"That's good to know. She's really strong and determined." Lyra noted.

"Yea… Nina's a good Captain…" he agreed, "I'll let you rest now. We'll be training for the upcoming Platoon match." He announced getting up

"When is the match?" Lyra asked.

"Umm… in a week." Layfon replied thinking.

"That's enough time to get ready." She said.

"Well I gotta go now. I have work." Heading toward the door, "See ya!"

"Bye." She waved as he left. After he left, it was suddenly empty.

Lyra sighed looking out the window. The sun had already set and it was quiet. _So boring…_ she looked up at the ceiling. She hated to just sit around. Lyra wasn't one to rest up. She remembered how any spar in Grendan would lean to Leerin having to stand guard over her, making sure she rested. But here… that wasn't the case.

"I should just leave, one less person to worry about." She said getting out of bed. She felt the same soreness course through her body again. Lyra cringed for a second, but then everything was fine.

Lyra sighed. Over in the corner of the room, she found her uniform neatly folded on a chair. She also found badge on top that had the roman numeral 17 on it. Lyra smiled looking at it. So they accepted her. That was good. She was now one step closer. She grabbed them and went into the bathroom to change.

Getting out of the hospital was easier than expected. Lyra snuck through the building without getting caught. Most of the doctors and nurses were busy dealing with the officers that were in the area.

Layfon was right. There was an entire section blocked off.

Lyra narrowed her eyes. Could it be true? There was a possibility, especially with the pain that was coursing through her body. But then that means… that man. He was here!

Now Lyra knew what needed to be done. That man had to be close. But being out for a day and half, that was enough time for him to get away.

Lyra frowned as she exited the hospital. _Well that was easier than expected…_ she thought.

Lyra then continued to walk past the officers that were giving out orders and investigating. Lyra felt slightly nervous walking past them. As if they would catch her and demand for answers from her, but luckily that didn't happen.

She managed to get out easily and was off back towards the city.

It was night when she got into the city, but it was still lively. Lyra smiled as she looked around at the different shops. There were some interesting shops. She noticed a nice bakery on the corner of the street. Lyra walked that way. As she got closer, she could smell the wonderful smell of bread coming from the direction.

Lyra paused to breath in the scent. "Ah… that smells good." She then felt her stomach growl. Lyra's face fell as her hands went to her pocket.

No money.

"Wonderful…" Lyra thought.

Her stomach growled, wanting food. Lyra sighed as she patted her stomach and then continued on past the shop. Her stomach growled, wanting her to go in.

"Sorry no money." She said to her stomach and then sighed, "I need a job…"

"_You seriously do need a job," _Leerin's voice popped in her head.

Lyra smiled, thinking her response

"_Eh...Do I have to? "_

"_Well I'm not going to cook everything for you," _Leerin would always scold_. "But I don't mind if you stop by tonight for dinner."_

"_Won't your father mind? 'Cause I know he thinks that I come over probably only for you're cooking." Lyra asked jokingly._

"_Nah, he agrees that you shouldn't be staying alone." Leerin explained._

"_As long it's alright, then sure!_

It was Leerin who always supplied her with the food she needed, since she was the lazy time. It was just food, but everything. Leerin was the one that always kept an out for Lyra, scolding her if she was being too reckless or doing something that wasn't smart.

Lyra loved Leerin like a sister. The two were inseparable. Leerin was the one who helped Lyra to her feet when she first discovered her brother was missing. Leerin helped Lyra become emotionally stable.

Lyra then made sure she did all she could to make sure Leerin was smiling as well.

But the next day after the conversation, things got weird. Leerin came running up she looked like she had been crying…

"_L-Leerin is everything alright?" Lyra asked worriedly._

"_Its Layfon! They found out about that he had been in underground matches" She said bursting into tears._

"_What?! How?!" Lyra asked._

"_The tournament. They caught him there and now he's been arrested." Leerin explained._

_Lyra tensed. That's right. Today was the tournament. She wasn't able to go because of classes. She listened as to Leerin explain the situation. She was shocked. She never expected this to happen and seeing Leerin this distressed, was even worse._

_Lyra took a deep breath. "So what's happening now?"_

"_I don't know but now they might kill him!" Leerin said crying._

_Lyra narrowed her eyes, "I don't think that the queen would go that far now…"_

"_But Lyra…"_

_Lyra stopped her. "No she wouldn't, but still this is bad. Where I Layfon now?_

"_Don't worry Leerin. The queen would never do something like that." Lyra said hugging her best friend, "All we can do is hope for the best and crying won't help."_

_Leerin nodded wiping her eyes._

Lyra sighed… that was one of the toughest times. One was calming Leerin and then also trying not to show her own fear of what would happen to Layfon. How grateful was she to the Queen when she heard his sentence was expulsion. At least his life was spared…

It could have been so much worse…

"Oof. Ow!"

Lyra grunted as she collided with someone falling back.

"Whoops sorry about that." The person apologized.

Lyra blinked and shook her head and looked to see a hand in front of her. Following the hand, she saw the person and recognized it to be the sniper from her platoon. "You okay?" he asked.

Lyra then blinked as she finally came back to the present. "Oh… um sorry about that. I wasn't even in this world." She chuckled as she took his hand and he helped her up.

The sniper chuckled, "Don't worry. You weren't the only one. Lyra, right?" He asked helping her up.

Lyra nodded her head as she brushed her head. "Thanks…and yup. That's right, but sorry, I forgot your name." She added, feeling a little bad that he managed to remember her name but she couldn't remember his.

"Haha it's all good. Sharnid Elipton, sharp-shooter of Platoon 17," he replied pointing to himself, "And the best looking guy around." He pasted a goofy smile.

Lyra raised a brow. "…Er right… so…" She replied nervously.

Sharnid chuckled. "Ha just kidding!" He said in a singsong voice. "By the way, that spar with the captain was impressive."

Lyra blinked, "Really?"

Sharnid nodded his head, " that's the second one I've seen. Layfon was the first. Nice job." He complimented.

Lyra scratched the back of her head and couldn't help but smile. "Thanks… the captain was really strong herself." She remarked.

Sharnid nodded her head. He then yawned, stretching, "So where are you heading Lyra? Last time I checked you were supposed to be resting in the hospital." He said as he turned and continued to walk in the direction he was heading.

Lyra blinked and then turned and decided to follow him, "Well I really didn't feel like lying in bed and I wanted to see the city." Lyra replied.

Sharnid just let out a chuckled. "Yea, I'd rather be in the open air than lying around."

"_Yea right,"_ came a voice out of nowhere. Lyra jumped letting out a small yelp. She looked around wondering where the voice came from and then noticed the small pink petals floating around her.

"Oh hiya!" she smiled and waved at the petal and then stopped wondering whether that was seen or not.

"God Felli, you scared her shitless!" Sharnid replied laughing.

"_Please, you know I hate your choices in your rash word play._" Felli responded in her monotonous voice. _"And besides, you are the laziest person just going around to every bar possible."_

"Oh, Felli-chan, don't say that, you'll get me a bad impression on all of the good ones." He protested, not even caring that Lyra was standing right there, wearing an awkward impression on her face.

"_She can hear you, baka." _

"Oh yea…"

"_Just shut up"_

"Right. And why are you even here?"

"GET ME IN THIS CONVO PLEASE!" Lyra could never stand being let out of things. The trio had a moment's worth of awkward silence, and then Sharnid started laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Lyra asked.

"Oh nothing nothing." He replied in his singsong voice again. "But seriously Felli-chan, why are you here again?" He said still smiling.

"_I was told by Nina-sempai to make sure you didn't do anything to Lyra-san." _Felli replied in a monotone voice, not even a slightest bit entertained

"Felli-chan! You know I'm not like that!"

"_Pervert, I not that way!"_

This whole time, Lyra had an extremely awkward face on. Then she did it again. And Sharnid doubled over laughing again

Felli just gave up and left he conversation.

"Don't you have any sense of humor?" Sharnid asked.

"Of course I do… I guess it's different from your definition of humor though." She replied.

Sharnid just shrugged, "Hey, new shop opened, wanna check it out? My treat." He asked randomly.

"Really?"

"Yea why not? What's a better way to become a good friend by going out to eat? Besides I can see you're hungry." He replied.

"You got that right… how'd you know?" she sighed in relief.

"I have my ways…" Sharnid replied.

Lyra just gave him an awkward look, "right… well Thanks a bunch!"

"Ok then, let's go" He smiled leading the way.


	3. Chapter 3

The sounds of a spar echoed throughout the dojo as Nina and Lyra continued to train.

Nina growled as she charged at Lyra, stabbing one of her whips forwards.

Lyra smirked and then jumped to the left and then took two steps back. "Too slow on that one, captain," she commented.

Nina wiped the sweat off of her forehead. As the back of her hand ran across her forehead, her eyes narrowed, "You're pretty good."

Lyra's face brightened a little as she smiled, "Thanks. You're really good yourself." She remarked, her eyes closing as she smiled. Then as she opened them, the captain and her eyes met. Instantly they were charging at one another again.

The two were in the dojo training. Nina had been working with Lyra the past couple days, studying her fighting style; figuring our her strength and weakness. The others were welcome to join. In fact, they were supposed to be joining the two today, but no one had come yet.

Nina knew Layfon would not be coming. He had told Lyra to tell the captain that he would be helping Naruki with his dispatch job. Harley and Felli were in class, and Sharnid was being Sharnid, skipping class _and_ training.

With that being the case, Lyra and Nina had started to train on their own with one on one combat.

It wasn't planned. They had pretty much just glanced at one another and grinned, and then they both charged at each other, their Dites crashing, sparks flying. That's how it had been going for the entire morning. As they fought, Lyra couldn't help but smile. She felt so much freer when fighting the captain now. There weren't any screw up with one releasing more kei then the other, knocking each other out. The first day, Nina tried to push her as hard as she could. Lyra didn't understand why the captain was so harsh. Her thoughts were this is because they were in the military and this is how it was supposed to be, but later Nina explained how she did not want her hiding anything.

Lyra could understand why. This was the military. Their captains should know their strengths and weaknesses so that they would be able to strategize for the next platoon match. Not only that, if any filth monsters were to attack, their positions would be based off of their skills. However, Lyra understood where Layfon was getting at. He was Layfon, a Heavens Blade wielder. He did not have to show his full strengths. Like him, Lyra had decided as well that she would only use the amount of strength she needed to finish the fight. It wasn't necessary to use the strong attacks if she didn't need to.

A grunt of frustration brought Lyra's attention back to the fight. She had zoned out while fighting, but was shocked to see that she was still standing. She couldn't help but wonder, wondering how that had happened. However, she didn't have much time to ponder it as Nina was charging at her again with her whips in crossed in front of her like an X. Nina swung her whips, lashing out at Lyra, who brought her own sword up to block the attack. THey both grunted and pushed towards one another, trying to make the other falter. Realizing this was not working, the two jumped back.

Nina was now starting to pant a little. Lyra watched as she lowered her whips and called them back. Only then did she lower her guard and did the same.

"This fights getting a bit intense. Wanna call it quits for today?" Nina huffed, bending over while catching her breath.

"This quick? I'm just warmed up. How 'bout a break?" Lyra asked with a smile.

Nina frowned for a second, but then smiled and nodded her head as she set her Dites down.

"Sure, we'll continue after that." She walked off to get a drink.

Lyra then let out a sigh, as she released the last of the kei that had built up during their fight. She then walked over and sat down against the wall. Lyra then closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths to relax her body. It was something her brother taught her to do. It helped with kei control and just relaxing the body in general.

Once she felt she was relaxed, Lyra opened her eyes again. She could see Nina a little off, filling two cups up. She could see that her captain was lost in thoughts.

Nina was good—very good. Lyra enjoyed sparring with her; however, Lyra noticed something. Nina pushed herself too hard. Lyra could tell by how she attacked. With every attack, she would yell as if encouraging her body to keep going even when it was at its limit. That caused her to make careless mistakes. She didn't have that confidence in her own skills.

One thing Lyra learned while training with Savaris was as he said, "Don't take shit from others. You do what you think is right," and that's what she went with. Nina tried to do that, but remarks from others were affecting her. Lyra learned that the very first day when the two were heading towards the dojo.

Lyra sighed and leaned her head back against the wall, resting her eyes.

A couple minutes later, Nina came back with two cups in her hand.

"Sorry I didn't know how much crème you took." She said handing her a cup.

"Oh you didn't have to. Thanks." Lyra said taking the cup.

Nina nodded as she sat down next to Lyra taking out her lunch, "Would you like some?" she offered.

Lyra blinked. She had forgotten all about lunch and didn't bother to pack. It was mostly because she was not really expecting to stay thins long, but fighting with the captain was fun. She enjoyed it.

"Sure thanks." Lyra said taking a treat. She took a bite into it and it let out a sweet sugary taste, "This is good." She remarked taking another bite out of it. Normally Lyra didn't take food from others, especially if it was their lunch. However, Nina was offering, so one wouldn't hurt.

"I'm glad you like it." Nina smiled.

It was quiet for a bit as the two ate and drank their coffee. Lyra looked around as she drank and noticed a line of doors going towards the locker rooms. She then noticed a letter A and instantly remembered the conversation with the president and changing her scholarship to a level A.

"Do you by any chance know any good places that are hiring?" Lyra suddenly asked. Even though she didn't have to worry about paying for her school, she still had her apartment to pay for, and food, and all those other things. That and like Layfon said, she didn't want to owe the president anything.

Nina paused in her lunch and thought for a bit, "well the place I work pays good. It's a lot of work but it pays good."

Lyra tilted her head as she looked at the captain.

"What do you do?" She asked.

"Machinery Cleaning. I'll take you there if you want. After the Platoon match." Nina offered.

"Sure! That'll be cool." Lyra replied as she remembered the platoon match. The thought of it sent butterflies in her stomach. Lyra couldn't wait. This is where she will be able to test just how well she remembered Savaris's training.

"Alright that's enough break time over." Nina yawned and then started getting up, picking her Dites up in the process and restored them as she walked into the middle of the arena.

Lyra nodded as she stood up and stretched a little. She then picked up her Dite, placing it over her shoulder. "Restoration!" she said swinging it forwards as her sword emerged. She liked doing it that way. She always saw Satoshi call out his Dite out that way except he had more things to it.

Lyra followed behind Nina and as soon as she crossed over the white line. As soon as she was over the white line, Lyra charged at Nina giving her barely enough time to block.

Nina managed to swing up her Dite to block the attack.

"You don't wait do you?" she asked jumping back. She then sent out a blue ray hitting Lyra. Lyra saw it coming but didn't move. The blast hit her dead on cause a bunch of dust to rise.

"Direct hit!" Nina cheered to herself. When the dust cleared she saw Lyra just standing there with out a scratch.

Nina narrowed her eyes as she saw a small green barrier around Lyra disappear.

"Interesting… Never heard that before." Nina thought. She then charged at Lyra who jumped up in their air. She then swung her sword sending a strip of lightening.

Nina jumped out of the way of that. She ran at Lyra again, who ran towards her. Then both collided and Nina tried to push forward but Lyra wasn't budging. So she decided to jumped up in the air and landed behind Lyra swiping her back, but Lyra just blocked it.

_Damn she's good,_ Nina thought.

"What's that matter Captain? Giving up so soon." Lyra teased.

"Yeah right! Lets go!" Nina said charging at Lyra again. Lyra got ready again.

"Too slow Captain." Lyra said as she dodged her attack. She then dashed at Nina with a slight amount of kei. Nina parried the attack crossing, "Nice kei control." Nina remarked she then ran at Lyra and at the last second she jumped over her, aiming for her back.

Lyra had called in her Dite at the last second with out Nina realizing. Right when Nina landed she restored it "Restoration!" the silver Dite emerged jabbing her in the stomach. Nina stopped in her tracks coughing a little as she fell to one knee.

"I win again!" Lyra smiled.

"That was pretty clever." Nina commented, "You're good… where did you learn to fight?"

Lyra thought for a second before replying, "Well I've had a couple teachers. They've all taught me differently and so I just combined all of their techniques." She explained.

Nina nodded her head slowly, "Well that explains the different tricks. That's pretty good though," she remarked.

Lyra smiled. "Thanks!"

Nina just nodded her head. The two then started to head back to where their drinks and lunch were sitting.

"Well we should start heading back now. I have class in an hour and need to get my books." Nina remarked.

Lyra looked up at the clock. That's right. They still had classes to attend. Lyra herself had one later in the day. She nodded her head, agreeing with the captain and the two then headed back to the locker room where they both showered and changed back into their uniforms.

"So we'll go after the match right?" Lyra asked when they were outside.

Nina nodded her head, "That's right. I'll let you know the time that day."

Lyra nodded and smiled, "Alright. Just want to confirm. Thanks! See you later Captain." She waved and then started down the path. She still had plenty of time to kill before her next class. Lyra decided to walk around the area. The smarter option would have been to head back to her room and look over her notes before her next class, but Lyra wasn't in the mood to sit still and do that. She wanted to walk around and explore the city and think about everything that was happening.

The match was in two days… it excited Lyra. She couldn't wait. This match will show if she's capable. It would prove that what Savaris actually did help her prepare like he promised he would.

_It was a regular day. Just like any other day Lyra was out in the forest training. She was jumping from tree to tree trying to slash off as many branches as possible. Lyra was timing herself, trying to increase her speed. She was in the air heading for the next branch when suddenly she saw a red blast coming towards her._

"_What the-" she barely had time to turn her body as the blast went passed her As she turned herself again, she saw another blast coming towards her. Lyra sent out her own blast of kei to counter it, but that was only to get enough momentum to head towards one of the trees. However, as the two blast collided an explosion happened, causing lyra to go flying. She grunted as her back hit the tree and she sank to the ground. Instantly, Lyra scrambled to get up._

_By now, she had figured out who her attacker was. Lyra closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths, "Savaris, you can come out now!"_

_A chuckle soon followed as Lyra looked up and saw him appear from a cluster of trees a little off._

"_That was impressive, though you should have used your internal kei and made a shield rather than trying to block with external kei."_

_Lyra frowned, "I was trying to get to the tree," she explained._

_Savaris looked at her thoughtfully, "And then what? I saw you were heading for the tree and had an attack ready. You would have been caught off guard."_

"_No I would have dodged that." Lyra growled, "After the first blast, you would have attacked again and I still would have been in mid air, making me more vulnerable."_

_Savaris nodded, scratching the back of his head, "Well that is true. I forgot you're weak unlike your brother."_

_Lyra's face redden with anger How dare he?_

_Savaris started to laugh, "Hmm… never seen that look on your face. It seems I hit a nerve huh? What you don't like being compared to your big brother?" he asked._

_Lyra gritted her teeth as he went on._

"_Oh wait, that's right. You were forced to leave because your brother feared your would be a burden right?'_

_Lyra snapped. She was running at him at full speed. "Restoration," she growled as he dite restored and out came a long sword. Savaris smirked as he lazily leaped back. Lyra continued to swipe at him out of anger, while Savaris lazily dodged, until he had enough and grabbed the tip of her sword, stopping her._

"_I don't get it. You used a staff before right? Why a sword now?" he asked. Then with a flick, Lyra was sent flying back. Her back hit the tree and she fell forwards, her face buried in the grass._

_Savaris walked over, crouching in front of her. "Boy you are weak…"_

_Lyra frowned as she looked up, turning her head to the side to spit out some dirt, "Just what do you want?"_

_Savaris's face went serious, "I want answers."_

_Lyra narrowed her eyes, "Answers?"_

"_Yeah, and I'm not getting them in the state you're in. You're too weak," he went on. He then stood up stretching as he took a couple steps back._

_Lyra scrambled to get up. "Just what are you talking about_

"_You're trying to get stronger aren't you?" he suddenly asked._

_Lyra furrowed her brows as he stood there, staring up at the sky, pretending to ponder and idea. His face then brightened._

"_How about I make you a deal. How about I train you and in return, I'll get my answers?" he decided._

_Lyra narrowed her eyes again, "What answers are you talking about?"_

_Savaris smirked, "Those answers will come as you get stronger."_

_Lyra looked at him, trying to figure out what he meant. Answers that will only appear as she gets stronger? That did not make sense to her._

"_So what do you say Lyra? Shall we make it a deal?" he asked, with his usual cocky smile again._

_Lyra frowned as she thought more, before replying, "I refuse."_

"_Heh?" Lyra struggled to hold in a smirk that almost formed, seeing the surprised look._

"_I said I refuse," she said again._

"_And why is that?" he demanded with a serious face._

"_I don't need your help." She crossed her arm._

"_Oh don't give me that crap," He started, "This is a rare opportunity. A Heavens Blade offering to help you train! Now that's an honor." _

"_I can train myself." Lyra replied flatly, walking over to pick up her dite, which she had dropped earlier._

"_The only thing, you're getting done is learning to trim trees faster," he retorted._

"_I'm working on increasing my speed!" she called back as she started to leave._

_Savaris sighed, crossing his arms, "Well at this rate, you're never going to get anywhere," he muttered, "You want to find your brother don't you?"_

_Lyra stopped in her track. He was bringing that up again._

"_Yup, you would have been a burden," he went on._

_Lyra's grip tightened around her dite._

"_I'm pretty sure the dirt won't taste any better," he chuckled, reminding her what he did._

_Lyra frowned, "I'm not weak."_

"_Well f course you're not. I can feel the kei boiling in your system, "You just have to learn to control it properly._

_Lyra's eyes narrowed as she thoughts. She then turned around, "And you can promise that?"_

_Savaris smirked, "depends on if you're planning on working hard."_

_Lyra thought for a bit. Of course she was ready to train as hard as she needed to, but something was bothering her, "It's just strange coming from you," she answered._

_Savaris shrugged, "Well I did say I want answers. But hey at least you're learning from one of the best."_

_Lyra thought for a moment. He was right. She would be learning more and faster. Especially since he was a Heavens Blade Receiver._

"_Alright. Fine," she decided._

_Savaris nodded with satisfaction, "Good… though I have a couple rules…" he started._

_Lyra rolled her eyes, "Of course you do. Go ahead… I'm listening…"_

"_First: No whining." He numbered holding up one finger._

_Lyra nodded as he continued._

"_Second: I choose when we train and where we train and you will come then." He listed holding up two._

_Lyra nodded her head again. Until now he had a smirk, but then his face went serious._

"_Third and final rule is the most important: You don't tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE that I am training you understood." He finished._

_Lyra nodded her expression never changing._

"_Good now lets get started." He smirked._

_Lyra blinked, "Wait now?"_

_Savaris nodded, "sure, why not?"_

"_But I'm tired, and my back hurts from when I slammed into the tree twice," she protested._

"_Hey! What are rules one and two?" he asked._

_Lyra frowned. "Fine."_

"_Jeez, we're going to have a hard time if you're already forgetting," he sighed._

Lyra sighed, he was a strict teacher, but he did teach her a lot. She was thankful for all he had taught her and she couldn't mess up now; especially not with the team she was in.

Layfon was still the same, always putting others in front of himself. She hadn't really talked to Harley or Felli much. Harley seemed like a nice person. She had spoke to him only a few times when he needed to work on her dite. The only time she spoke with Felli was when she appeared while Lyra was with Sharnid. Felli seemed like the serious one but besides that she seemed nice. However, Lyra noticed she never came to training and when she did, she always arrived late. It was just like Sharnid.

He was a strange one. Lyra couldn't help but smile as she thought of a few nights ago when they went to dinner. Lyra was expecting it to be an awkward one, but as they sat there waiting for the food, Lyra realized that it wasn't that awkward at all. He just talked about the city, noting how during that time, many people were out drinking. It was amusing to see how he was mocking the drunk ones, watching them stumble. Because of that, Lyra couldn't help but laugh. Sharnid was…weird. She almost smiled thinking of how dumb he could be.

That's when Lyra sensed another presence. Their Kei was very feint.

Speak of the Devil, she thought.

Lyra stopped in her tracks, "I know you're there. You can come out now." She heard the person curse and turned around to see Sharnid appearing from behind some trees.

"That's pretty good. Not many can sense me coming, you know?" he remarked, clapping his hands twice.

Lyra shook her head, "May I ask, why you're stalking me?"

Sharnid chuckled, "Just what makes you think I'm stalking you?"

Lyra raised a brow as she crossed her arm, "clearly it's considered stalking when you hide behind trees with your kei levels low and follow someone."

Sharnid chuckled again, "Well yeah… but what makes you think, it was _you_?"

Lyra blinked, "It wasn't me?"

Sharnid shook his head and pointed ahead towards a group of girls, "I was actually following them when I saw you. Then I decided why not try and surprise you?"

Lyra gave him a dead panned look, "So you skip training because you were stalking girls?"

Sharnid blinked, "We have training?"

"_Had_ training," Lyra corrected him.

Sharnid blinked again, "We did?"

Lyra sighed, shaking her head, "I've only known you for a couple of days and I can tell that you're a skipper."

"Ah Lyra-Chan, you don't have to be so mean." Sharnid sniffed, pretending to act hurt.

"Lyra-Chan? Since when?" she raised a brow

"Since now." He replied walking away with a wave.

"You are weird…" Lyra muttered.

He heard her and chuckled turning around patting her on the head.

"Get off my head." She said.

"Meanie! I come here to see my favorite short black-haired friend only to have her act all rude and mean to me," he pretended to act insulted.

"Hey, I'm not being rude now! Nor am I short!" she grimaced.

"Really? You look short to me." he replied measuring the distance. Lyra looked at where his hand was and frowned. She was short. She barely came up to his neck. _Damn…_

"You're just… tall!" she replied.

"Which makes you short." He grinned.

Lyra continued to frown.

"Stop frowning. People will think that you're like Nina, always serious or like Felli, who isn't capable of smiling.

Again, Lyra continued to frown.

Sharnid sighed, "You know your face will get stuck like that."

That made Lyra straighten her face but then she shook her head, "Just where did you hear that?"

Sharnid started to laugh, "Hah it worked!"

Lyra sighed, shaking her head. She then looked up and noticed the girls were gone now.

"Looks like the ones you were stalking are gone now," she remarked.

"Aww is Lyra-chan jealous?" he asked.

Lyra scoffed, "You wish." She then looked down at her watched and tensed, "shit!" she exclaimed, making Sharnid jump as well.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Ten minutes before class start!" she replied, looking up at him.

Sharnid chuckled, "Ah yeah… class. I'm not going."

"Yeah well unlike you, I'm not a skipper- oh I don't have time to argue with you. I need to go back to my room and get my books too!" she realized.

"Well you better get on that," Sharnid remarked with a look of amusement.

Lyra shook her head quickly and turned around to hurry off.

"Well toodles Lyra! See you later1" Sharnid called after her. Lyra just waved back a response and was off.


	4. Chapter 4

"Alright just stand right here. With your Dite out." Harley told her.

Lyra nodded her head as she walked over to where Harley told her to stand. "Restoration," she mumbled and watched as her dite appeared. Harley then went on to connect a couple wires, attaching two to her sword and one on her wrist. He then led the wires back to his computer, attaching them in certain sections.

"There now I need you to let a small stream of kei travel through your weapon," he ordered, as he started pressing buttons on the computer.

Lyra just nodded her head. She took a deep breath and then allowed her kei to flow into her weapon, causing a green glow to appear around the sword.

"Is this good?" she asked.

Harley stared at the monitor for a few seconds before replying. "A little more please," He asked.

Lyra nodded closing her eyes. With a deep breath, she increased the amount of kei. Lyra sighed. she could feel the flow increase and pas through her veins. It made the adrenaline kick in as well as now her eyes were wide in excitement, as she remembered what day it was.

Today was the day. It would be her first interstate platoon match. Lyra was excited. This was the day. It would prove that all her training really did pay off. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and let it out. Unfortunately, Lyra forgot where she was standing. The thought of the platoon match excited her so much that her kei flow increased more. It was too much because her sword started to brighten. The electricity was seen passing through her into the blade.

"Wah! Too much!" Harley called out.

Lyra blinked out of her thoughts and looked down at her dite. She instantly retracted the kei, lowering its energy level. "Sorry!" Lyra apologized. She concentrated on her dite to make sure the energy stayed stable

"Phew much better." He sighed. He bit his lips, watching the computer screen and then looking down to write down the readings. He kept nodding his head every now and then. Lyra just stood there stood there controlling her kei flow, as it flowed through her sword. She wasn't sure what he was looking at, but knew better than to ask. At the moment they didn't have much time.

Everyday for the past week, Nina had Lyra coming in to train. Lyra wasn't sure if the training was necessary or not, but she assumed it was so that the captain could understand her fighting style better. Unfortunately it was too much for Lyra's poor dite. Harley had warned her to use it carefully, as the dite did not have enough memory to handle her attacks. The dite now started to crack and was in need of repairs. Luckily Harley was working on it fast trying to fix it, but even he wasn't sure if there wasn't enough time.

Of course it had to happen the day of the match. This irritated Lyra, but Nina assured her that it would not be a big problem. She was planning on starting off with Lyra defending and since Layfon would be in the front lines it wasn't that concerning to Nina; however, Lyra still didn't like it. She wanted to be of help in this match, but because of her dite, she would have to stay back and guard it.

Lyra sighed, looking around.

Everyone except for Layfon and Nina were there and ready in their uniforms, which surprised Lyra. She expected that Nina would be on time, in fact early on this day. Especially since she had been nagging at Lyra about getting good rest and being there on time.

"It's probably because of work." Felli had explained in her monotone voice. Lyra nodded. Nina did tell her that the work there was hard. On top of that, discussing the option with Layfon, Lyra discovered that Layfon worked there as well and that both scheduled to work that day. With that being the case, Lyra assumed that the work would have been done quicker, but it seemed that they had been working late and slept in.

"They better hurry up." Sharnid sighed leaning back against the wall, "The match is in two hours."

"Two hours!" Harley jumped, hearing that, "Shit I need to hurry!" Harley exclaimed taking the Dite form Lyra. He quickly ran over to another table where he started working away at the Dite.

"Take you time Harley, you'll make it worse by rushing." Lyra called out to him. Harley just waved in response continuing to work. Lyra sighed as she leaned back against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting against it. Felli looked at her once and then stood up, saying she would be right back, leaving just her and Sharnid in the room with Harley towards the back.

Soon, time passed. Lyra then let out a huge yawn, stretching. The night before she was too excited to sleep.

"Well looks like someone didn't get their sleep." Sharnid remarked.

Lyra just finished another huge yawn shaking her head. Looking up at him, she saw that he had restored his dite and was cleaning it down. "I couldn't."

Sharnid chuckled. "Too nervous?"

Lyra shrugged, "I guess you could say that."

"Ah, yes. That's how it is for all first timers," he remarked.

Lyra just nodded her head and then slowly stood up, "Well…I'm going to get some coffee. Do you want some?" she asked looking at him.

Sharnid just shook his head, "Nah I'm good. Unlike you, I got a good night sleep."

Lyra smirked, "Sure… you were probably up all night bar hopping." She guessed.

Sharnid shrugged, "You'd only know if you were out last night."

Lyra shook her head as she walked off to get the coffee. That was the type of person that she saw Sharnid as: Skipper, Careless, Laid-back. He was unlike the others. There was Nina, who constantly worked; Harley, who was maintaining their dites; Layfon who always worked for others, and Felli— Lyra wasn't sure about Felli. She really didn't see Felli that often. Only at training, but she didn't have time to talk then.

Lyra quickly got her cup of coffee and then headed back to where Sharnid was. Entering, she saw that Layfon and Nina were finally there. Both of them looked half asleep, the craters under their eyes showing.

"What happened to you guys?" Lyra asked amused.

"We lost track of time…" Nina mumbled saying something else that Lyra didn't catch.

"Well you two better hurry up. We need to be out there in an hour and half." Lyra told them.

"What?! Half an hour?! We need to get ready!" Both of them were up running towards the locker rooms to change.

Lyra smiled shaking her head in amusement. She then looked towards where Harley was working on her dite and walked over.

"Hey Harley, are you by any chance done?" Lyra asked.

Harley was finishing up, screwing in the last bolt. He then looked at her, taking off his goggles and then back at the dite, picking it up, "It's the best I can do for now. It should hold through the match, but you'll have to be careful."

Lyra nodded her head, taking the dite from her, "Alrighty then. That works. Thanks!" She place the Dite in her belt and they both headed back to where Nina was going over the plan. Lyra already knew the plan. Nina told her that she was suppose to go after the flag with Layfon covering her. Nina was insisting that she would act as a decoy, which Lyra was against. She insisted that Nina let her act as the decoy. It would work since they would be focused on learning her fighting style. That gave her the perfect opportunity to be out in the open. After much convincing Lyra managed to get Nina to see it and then decided to stay back and guard the flag with Sharnid covering her and Felli scouting around.

"Alright it's time," Nina decided getting up.

Lyra felt her stomach flip as Nina gave the order for them to head out to the opening.

Entering the arena, Lyra looked around. She could hear the students of the school cheer for them.

Lyra stood with her team, looking around.

"Get ready…" Nina's voice came.

Soon the bell sounded and the match had begun.

Lyra grunted as she jumped over a log, and continued run. So far, everything was going as planned. A little behind her was Layfon. Both were hidden, dodging all of the traps thanks to Felli who was scouting away.

_"Just a little more and then you will be arriving to the checkpoint,"_ Felli's voice echoed around her. Lyra glanced at the pink petals and nodded.

"Got it. Thanks Felli."

With that, Lyra slowed her footsteps. At the checkpoint, she and Layfon would be running into two of the enemies. They're jobs were to attack and defeat them and then continue on to head for the flag, except Lyra would increase her kei so that she would be noticed. Layfon on the other hand would continue to stay hidden and sneak up on the flag.

Lyra pushed past the trees and saw the opening coming into view. She was about to run forwards, but suddenly Felli's pink petals appeared in front of her.

"_Wait,"_ Her voice echoed.

Lyra then skid to a stop, "what is it?" she asked.

"_Something's not right. Stay right here,"_ she ordered. Lyra just nodded her head.

Behind her Layfon suddenly appeared. "What's going on? Why did you stop?"

"Felli says some thing's wrong," Lyra explained.

The pink petal then appeared again, _"Scouting the area, there is no one here."_

Lyra narrowed her eyes, "That's not good is it?"

"_No. When I first checked, there were two enemies in this area, but now I can't sense them,"_ she explained.

"They probably hid their kei," Layfon explained.

"_No. At the speed they were traveling, we should have ran into them by now. They've moved."_

Lyra's eyes widened, as she realized what was going on, "They baited us didn't they?"

Layfon frowned, "it appears so. How quick do you think you can get back?" he asked, looking at Lyra.

"You want me to go back?" she questioned.

Layfon nodded, "if they did bait us that means Nina was their main target. They're going to be arriving there any minute. Even if it isn't I'll be able to handle them."

Lyra smirked, "Don't get too cocky now."

"_You need to hurry. I've detected two heading Nina's way."_ Felli warned.

Lyra nodded, "Right. I'm heading back then."

"Okay hurry." Layfon ordered and with that, both headed in opposite directions with Felli guiding Lyra.

"Where do the enemy stand now?" Lyra asked.

"_Nina has engaged with the first one. Sharnid is scouting for the second one as we speak."_ She explained.

Lyra nodded. She was praying she would make it there in time. If the captain fell then the match would be over. It wasn't that she didn't have confidence in Nina. Lyra was positive that Nina would be able to handle herself; however, with the way Lyra had seen Nina fight, she was worried that Nina would over exert herself and then tire out before the match was over. After all, aside from the two that Lyra and Layfon were supposed to run into, there would already have been a member or two sneaking towards their flag.

_"You're almost there now Lyra."_ The pink petal came floating next to her.

Lyra nodded as she continued to run. She soon arrived to the opening where their flag was being guarded. Luckily there were traps set around it and no one had managed to make it up there yet.

A grunt from the captain brought Lyra's attention to the fight where she was now fighting both of them. Nina had just gone stumbling back and was about to be struck.

"Captain!" Lyra called out, causing the two to pause in the strike. Lyra then took that opportunity to swipe her sword down and send a strip of kei at towards them, forcing them to move back. Lyra then hurried over to where Nina was standing straight again. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Lyra come over next to her.

"Why are you here?" she demanded.

"Felli realized that they were baiting us away from you so that they could attack so Layfon told me to come back to help," she explained. By now the two had gotten up again and now stood in front of the two.

Nina nodded her head, "Alright you take the one on the right then," she ordered as she ran forwards. Lyra blinked, wanting to protest that they should probably stick together and attack at the same time, but Nina was already off.

With a sigh, Lyra hurried forwards to deal with the other one. The man was in the process of turning to help attack Nina.

"Big mistake," Lyra smirked. She increased the amount of kei in her legs and ran forwards, thrusting the sword towards the man. The man noticed this and his eyes widened as he quickly brought his sword up, barely having time to block it. He grunted as he tried to push back, but Lyra kept pushing forwards. That's when she felt a shifting in her dite. Looking down, Lyra noticed the crack was opening up.

"Shit," she cursed as she weakened her push and jumped back before the man could react. Lyra frowned as she examined her dite. This was good.

Lyra looked up at the man and noticed her was smirking, "Is the seventeenth platoon that desperate that their going to assign their own member a broke dite? How pathetic can you get?" he laughed.

Lyra frowned at that comment, but couldn't retort to it. The man then laughed again. Lyra could feel him increasing his kei. He then roared as he attacked her again.

Lyra prepared herself. The man then started to slice at her from the right, then the left, repetitively. Lyra grunted as she blocked it. Every time she felt her dite give more and more away.

_"The third one has appeared,"_ Felli's voice came.

Lyra's eyes widened as she glanced to her right where she saw the third one heading towards the flag. "No!" Glancing towards her captain, she saw Nina had the upper hand in the fight.

"Oi! Pay attention!" The voice in Lyra's radio cracked. Lyra looked to see the man about to strike her. Lyra brought her dite up in time to block it, but then her dite gave out, breaking.

"Oh wonderful," Lyra frowned. She glanced to see that the third was now starting to climb. Looking over, she saw Nina looked as if her fight was almost finished.

The man laughed, "Now you're done for." Lyra looked to se him strikeing again. She prepared to jump, but suddenly she heard a bullet shoot and felt something graze past her head, causing her hair to fly forwards with it. The bullet hit the man in the chest and he went stumbling back, falling.

"Bulls-eye," she heard Sharnid smirk. Lyra blinked. She had completely forgotten about the sniper. So he was somewhat useful.

"_The flag!"_ Felli's voice came again.

Lyra cursed and hurried towards it where Nina was fighting. She was about to join her, but then realized the condition of her sword. Lyra cursed again. Hand-to-hand combat it was.

"_Don't bother. Layfon is almost to the flag… just hold out a little more."_ Felli reported to her.

"He better hurry up…" Lyra muttered, watching the fight. Lyra narrowed her eyes. Sharnid could easily take him out if Nina would only move a little. She should have understood that by now.

Nina finally did move and the bullet shot was heard. The man grunted as he was hit in the back. As he fell, the bell rang. Looking up at the screen, Lyra saw Layfon holding the flag, panting.

"Phew… good timing Lay-chan…" she muttered pulling her hair back.

In the locker room, the air was actually calm. Nina came in, with a strict face. Everyone paused as they looked at her.

"Today's battle was a close one. Felli, good job in figuring out their plan, though you still need to be quicker. Nice shot Sharnid. Good timing with the flag, Layfon. And Lyra, good job in helping hold them off." She started complimenting them. Lyra just nodded her head and looked at the others. From how they were reacting, she knew this wasn't a common thing to be.

Sharnid confirmed it as he spoke up with a hand raised, "Well now, that's barely ever said. As a result of that, let's all go out and get something to eat." he announced.

Lyra's face brightened at the thought of food. It had been half a day and she had barely eaten anything in breakfast. That and the fact that the entire platoon would be eating together, was exciting. It would give her a chance to learn everyone as a group.

"Of course Lyra will be paying." Sharnid added as he noticed Lyra's brightening face.

"Yeah right! I'll barely be able to afford food for my self!" Lyra protested.

"Haha I'm just playing with you…" he laughed as he got up, "Well I gotta go shower and then get ready for my date tonight. See you all later," he waved as he started to walk off towards the shower room. As he past Lyra, he laughed again, ruffling her hair.

"Hey!" Lyra protested as he left. Around her the others started to pack up as well. Lyra sighed as she glanced down at her dite. Before she went to change she needed to see Harley.

"Is something wrong Lyra?" Layfon asked.

Lyra looked up to see him standing there, looking at her concerned. Lyra just smiled.

"I'm fine. Though my really dite isn't it," she explained, showing him the broken pieces.

She watched as Layfon's eyes widened, "What did you do to it?" he asked as he reached for it.

Lyra just scratched the back of her head, "Yeah… It didn't have enough memory and I over used it during training. Harley only managed to repair it a little before we had to go out to fight and the other platoon caught on to it quickly and attacked pretty harshly." She explained.

Layfon chuckled lightly, "Well don't worry about it too much. Harley will be able to fix it up for you," he remarked.

Lyra's face brightened, as she was now smiling, "Yeah you're right! And once I get it fixed then I'll fight you."

Layfon smiled, nodding his head, but he suddenly tensed, hearing the last part. "Wait, what?"

Lyra nodded, "Yup, I still have to beat you, you know?" she reminded him.

Layfon smirked. Back in Grendan Lyra was always challenging Layfon to a match. He could tell that it was going to be the same here; however, Layfon was curious to see just how well she had gotten since training with Savaris. He then nodded his head.

"Better get Harley working on that then," he remarked.

Lyra's face brightened as she nodded and then jumped up from the beck, "Right. I should go find him now. Later!" she called as she headed off.

Layfon let out a sigh, shaking his head, "Looks like some things are meant to be…" he muttered and then noticed Felli a little off. Layfon smiled, waving to her before heading off to change.

Lyra hummed as she walked down the halls to the room where they had been briefed. She was hoping that Harley would still be there. Arriving there, Lyra found Harley in the room, cleaning is computer. He looked up hearing someone enter and smiled, seeing it was Lyra.

"Hey there Lyra, how was the— wah! What did you do?" he suddenly exclaimed, as Lyra pulled out the broken dite from behind her.

Lyra gave a nervous laugh, "Well you see… I ended up being on the defensive side a lot," she explained.

Harley frowned, as he walked over to look at it, "You over worked this way too much."

"Well the guy wouldn't stop attacking me," Lyra protested.

Harley just shook his head.

"You can fix it right?" Lyra asked.

Harley nodded his head, "I'm going to take a look at the memory stored in here and then I'll be making a lot adjustments," he explained.

Lyra's face brightened, "Super! Thank you so much. And… sorry about breaking it," she apologized.

"Hey don't worry about it, it's my job so it's cool. Seeing that Nina and the others never have issues, it makes me bored." Harley assured her, "Now I gotta go get working on this."

Lyra nodded her head, "Alright them. See you later," she waved and headed back to the shower room. By now the others had left, leaving Lyra the only one. She didn't take long to shower. However she did spend more time. The entire time she was thinking, _my first platoon match and we won!_

Lyra knew she could have done more to help, but she was happy that she didn't cause any screw-ups. Lyra grinned. If she continued to work like this, there was no doubt in her mind that she would be able to accomplish her goal while here.

"Ahem."

A cough was heard. Lyra turned around to see that it was the same woman who had taken her to meet the president the first day. Lyra frowned, "Let me guess."

The woman nodded, "he's waiting."

Lyra let out a sigh through her nose, "fine… lead the way."


	5. Chapter 5

**FINALLY OUT! YAY! SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG, I HAD TO RE-WATCH THIS SHOW IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE I HAD EVERYTHING CORRECT… SO YEA… HOPEFULLY YOU AREN'T MAD AND NOT NOT GOING TO READ THIS… SORRY!**

Dear Leerin,

Sorry I haven't written for a while! I hope I didn't have you to worried, it's just a lot has happened in the week I've been here. I was accepted into the Military Art, and assigned to the seventeenth platoon and you won't believe who was there as well. Layfon! Yes Layfon is here! I know you must be wondering why he's in the military again, but supposedly he saved someone the first day and the president noticed his skills and forced him into Military Arts. Oh well, I'm happy he's here. He helped me out a lot.

Anyways, the seventeenth platoon is pretty cool. The captain is very strict when it comes to training. There are a couple people that slack off sometimes and surprisingly I'm not one of them! Can you believe it? I've been to training on time, sometimes even earlier! Haha i think training with Savaris is getting to me. You should thank him for me if you can because thanks to him, I have an A Rank scholarship, which means I don't have to worry about paying! But I still want a job.

But yea… this week has been busy. We were working a lot on the platoon match was three days ago. We won! I felt so happy! Obviously it was thanks to Layfon. (My Dite broke near the end) But Harley said that he would make a new one that would work better. (Harley is our Dite management.)

So anyways How have you been? I hope you're not mad at me for not writing right away like I promised, but I was tired when I arrived and then I had school the next day and yea…

Well write back when you get a chance! Oh and don't forget to tell your father I said Hi!

~ Lyra

It had been three days since the platoon match. Lyra had gotten congrats from many people while walking to class, most she didn't know. Everyone kept commenting on how good she was and how with both her and Layfon, they would make the platoon invincible. That and the president was impressed himself. He had praised her on a job well done and said a couple other compliments before leaving to let her change.

Lyra smiled at that. Three years ago, she would've been struggling with Savaris to actually learn to fight a decent battle. Now here she was in a platoon and won her first match.

"Hey Lyra!" A voice broke into her thoughts. Lyra turned around to see Harley jogging towards her.

"Oh hiya Harley." She greeted him as he stopped next to her, "What's up?"

"I've managed to fix your Dite." He started, "It's been changed a lot and I need you to stop by the maintenance room tonight so I can modify it to withstand your amount of kei energy. Think you can stop by tonight at the dojo?"

"Well… tonight was my first day working at the machineries with Nina Senpai. So I can't… How about tomorrow?" she asked.

"That's fine, tomorrow then." Harley shrugged he then looked at his watch, "Well I better be going, don't wanna be late for class."

"Yea good point. See ya later Harley." She waved to him as he walked off.

Lyra watched him walk off. Then she turned around and was about to walk off but ended up bumping into non other then Sharnid, who was standing behind her and managed to scare her.

"Jeez, you could've said hi or something." Lyra panted.

"Oh, hello." Sharnid waved to her. Lyra just stared at him blankly.

"So first week here and you already have a date huh?" he smiled at her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"You know what I'm talking about." He replied indicating Harley, who was entering one of the buildings.

She stared at him blankly.

"'Sure thing tomorrow then?' 'See ya later Harley'" he mocked in a high girly voice.

Lyra just sighed shaking her head. "Two things, 1: That's not how I sound; B: Harley was just telling me that he finished fixing my dite and was asking when would be the best time I could stop by so we could modify it so it could withstand my kei energy." She explained.

"Sounds like a date to me." Sharnid shrugged.

"It's not! Besides, I don't even like Harley like that." She replied with a straight face.

"Mmhmm…" Sharnid nodded slowly.

"It's true." Lyra replied annoyed.

"Then who do you like?" he asked. Lyra thought for a second before realizing something.

"Why am I having this conversation with you? I need to get to class now." She said marching off.

"Alright then, toodles." He waved watching her leave.

Lyra barely made it to the lecture hall on time. The hall was full, but luckily Layfon had saved her a spot. That was a good thing about having an old friend in all of your classes. They always saved you a spot no matter what.

"Hiya Lay-chan." She greeted sitting down next to him.

"Hey Lyra, get lost or something?" he asked moving his things over.

"Well actually I needed to talk to Harley about the dite thing and then I had a little chat with Sharnid." She explained the conversations which Layfon laughed to.

"That would be Sharnid…" he remarked shaking his head.

"I swear he's annoying." Lyra grumbled.

"Meh… he's not that bad. Just seems annoying in the beginning, but trust me, he's very helpful." Layfon replied.

Lyra just shrugged turning her attention towards the professor, who had begun his lecture.

The day went by slow. Lyra wanted to get to work fast, so when her final class of the day had ended, she hurried home so she could change out of her military uniform. She dressed in her casual clothes, which acquired of a green tank top, with a black jacket over it on top of blue jeans. She grabbed her lunch and was out the door

She hurried off towards the machineries. Once there, she looked around to see Nina was already working on a level above her. Lyra stared in awe at the huge machines. It was pretty big, but not as big as the one in Grenden.

"Senpai!" she called up to her. Nina looked down waving to Lyra. She then started to lower the floor she was standing on.

"Hey Lyra, glad you could make it." Nina said once she was at the same level.

"Yea… I kinda got lost getting here, sorry." she explained apologetically.

Nina nodded understanding, "Well let's get you the supplies you need and get to work shall we?" Lyra nodded following behind her.

Once Lyra had her supplies, they went back to the spot Nina was cleaning.

It was silent for a bit before Nina decided to start a conversation.

"Soo Lyra, I heard your scholarship was raised to rank A." she started.

"Oh… yea it was…" Lyra replied slowly. That was a while ago… why was she asking now?

"Just wondering, I mean I understand why the president would do that. He did the same to Layfon," Nina replied thinking, "Even though he doesn't need to, Layfon still continues to work here."

"Yea… but there still other things to pay for you know? And it's always good to have money just in case." Lyra shrugged. Nina nodded understanding.

"What made you come here? I mean I know you didn't get in trouble or anything, but I still don't understand why you would leave such a powerful city like Grendan." Nina asked. Lyra paused a minute thinking. She remembered asking a similar question to her brother once when she was younger. It was a couple months after the accident with their parents.

"Sometimes you just want to start over. And the best way is by starting in a new place." she replied using the exact words her brother had used.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Nina paused looking at the black haired girl, who was lost in thoughts.

Lyra nodded slowly, "When I was very little, I used to live in another city. I don't remember much about that city. Just that one day we were attacked by filth monsters and everyone was forced to leave the city. My brother stayed back to help fight, since he was part of the Military Arts there and forced me to take a roaming bus and arrived to Grendan, where I met Lay-chan and a couple other people. I waited for word from my brother, but I never got anything. After that I felt weak. He told me to go because I couldn't protect myself. That made me decide to join the Military Arts, but the Queen wouldn't let me. Instead she recommended this place. So yea… thats why I'm here…"

"I see…" Nina nodded slowly, thinking. She then shook her head continuing scrubbing.

"What about you Senpai? Why are you so determined to protect Zuelleni?" Lyra asked.

Nina paused closing her eyes. She thought back to the day when the electronic fairy sacrificed it's life.

"It was when I was young… Some thugs, or what ever, tried to steal a newborn electronic fairy. I stopped him, but I fell off a ledge down in a deep pit." Nina stopped for a second gripping her brush tighter, "I would've died had the electronic fairy not come. She gave me her energy and let me continue to live."

Lyra just nodded listening. "That's why, Lyra. That's why i want to protect this city. I got a second chance to live, and i will do what ever it takes to defend Zuellini." Nina declared.

Lyra nodded again watching as Nina continued to brush the side. Lyra looked over at the machine. They had done a pretty good job

"Oh man… I'm so tired…" Lyra let out a yawn as she placed her brush down.

Nina jumped from her sudden mood swing.

Lyra stood there with her hand on her hip looking at the machine with a grin, "Well that looks pretty clean, don't you think?"

Nina took a step back looking up at it then frowned, "It looks the same to me."

"No it doesn't! It looks shinier!" Lyra declared.

Nina looked at Lyra who stood there with her arms crossed ready to argue. She then sighed, letting out a laugh, "Are really willing to fight me?" Lyra just grinned as a response. Suddenly the place shook causing them to stumble forwards.

"What was that?" Lyra asked looking around.

"Zuellini has stopped." Nina jumped up, realizing something wrong. She then ran off towards the stairs.

"Nina Senpai!" Lyra called out running after her. Just then she heard Nina call out Zeullini's name, which meant something bad happened.

"Senpai!" She arrived to the bottom of the steps where she saw Nina standing there facing a group of men. In front of Nina, stood a man with red hair.

The man turned around looking at Lyra directly in the eyes.

_That man…_ she knew him. She knew she did. But where? And how? "Oh wonderful… you had to come…" the man muttered. His voice sounded familiar but before Lyra could say anything, the robed men and he disappeared along with Nina.

"Senpai!" she called out. _What was going on?_ She needed to contact someone. But who? Layfon duh!

Lyra quickly ran to the nearest phone, which was back where they were first cleaning. The phone rang for a while. On the third ring Layfon picked up.

"Hello?" the tired voice answered.

"Hey Lay-chan! Sorry to bother you this late, but you need to come fast!" Lyra said urgency in her voice loud and clear.

"Lyra, is something wrong?" Layfon asked.

"Yes! I don't what happened, but these masked people came and attacked Zuelleni- I'll explained later, just get here fast!' she protested.

"Ok, I'll be there." he replied and then hung up.

By the time Layfon had arrived, Zuelleni was safe, Nina was lying unconscious, and the hooded figures along with the mysterious man were gone.

They were both at the hospital now, where Nina was recovering. The doctor said that she would be fine and just needed some rest.

"So what exactly happened?" Layfon asked turning towards Nina.

"I don't know…" Lyra replied thinking, "We were both cleaning the the machines, when suddenly the place shook. Nina said that Zuellini was being attacked and we both hurried there. By the time I got to the top, there was a group of people standing there, all covered in cloaks and had some sort of mask. They had Zuelleni in their hands. Suddenly all of them disappeared and then I went and called you and a bit before you came, Nina appeared again, only she was unconscious and yea…"

"Hmmm… that's weird." Layfon thought.

"There… was another person." Lyra remembered.

"Another person?" Layfon repeated.

Lyra nodded thinking, "I think I knew him too…"

"Who?" Layfon asked.

Lyra paused thinking, "I don't know… I mean he looked at me and recognized me instantly, but I didn't recognize him at all."

"Could it be that man from your dream?" Layfon asked.

"I don't know… I mean I can't even remember that man…" Lyra replied uneasy. She thought back to the look he gave him. It was relief. But from what?

Just then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Lyra looked over to see Layfon.

"Don't worry over it too much Lyra. Like you said before, you don't know much about your past. Maybe this is why the queen sent you. And remember, you can always talk to me or Leerin. She may not be here, but you can still write to her." he smiled assuring her.

Lyra stared at him before nodding her head. "Thanks Lay-chan." she smiled.

Layfon just nodded looking up at the clock. "Well I have to go. I told Naruki I would help out with the dispatch job."

"Ok, well have fun with that. Don't take all the do all work. Let the police men do their job also." she remarked. Layfon just let out a chuckle leaving.

It was quiet after that. Lyra just sighed sitting in a chair. She thought about what Layfon said. _Maybe I should write to Leerin…_ she thought. She then glanced down at her captain. Her expression was calm, which meant she would recover well. _I guess it's time I leave as well..._


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back again! A little woozy from having my wisdom teeth pulled out… but besides that, I'm pretty good. (no not really. I am soo outta it. But I got this idea so I had to write it or else I would forget. If there are any mistakes sorry! Like I said, I wrote while still under the anesthetics. ^_^**

"Fu!" Layfon grunted as he was hit. After the kick, his opponent disappeared again.

The sound of a breath being let out brushed past his ears. Layfon pulled back his stance to respond to that breath. Then sole of a shoe suddenly appeared before him.

"Whoa!" He barely had time to jump back.

"Umm Lyra? Don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?" he panted.

"Hah? After years of training Lay-chan? I don't think so." Lyra grinned as she aimed a kick for his head.

He bent forward, and the kick went over his head. Lyra changed tactics and swung down towards Layfon's back with the foot. In a flash, Layfon's left hand shot upward to grab the foot, his right hand already pressing down his Lyra's collar, and he kicked out at his Lyra's other leg.

A yelp was heard as black hair scattered and Lyra's back hit the floor. She let out a cough as the wind was knocked out of her.

"Are you all right?" Layfon getting up..

"Damn it! I thought I almost got you!" Lyra groaned as she sat up.

"Yeah, almost." Layfon smiled.

"Hmph, you just increased your speed to avoid my kick, right? I lost because of that!" Lyra combed her hair with her fingers.

"Well at least you're getting something out of these random challenges…" he chuckled.

That was their third round that day. Every match that Lyra challenged him to, she kept losing. Whether it be with a dite or hand-to-hand combat, Lyra lost.

"Ugh… I need a sword. Harley! Are you done yet!" she called out to the technician who was walking by at the time.

"I told you Lyra, it's going to take a while, especially from the damage you did." Harley replied with a sigh.

"But you said it was finished." She protested.

"It was until you decided to challenge Layfon with it!" he retorted grumpily.

"Oh yeah… hehe…" she blushed a little remembering the outcome. Lyra sent a blast of Kei at Layfon who dodged it easily. After that, he was somehow behind her with the blade against her neck.

"I still feel like, I haven't gotten anywhere…" she grumbled, crossing her arms.

"That's not true. You've gotten very strong. Your Kei control for example is very good. Much better than when we first fought in Grendan. You skills with hand-to hand-combat could use a little more work.

"Hmph," Lyra just grunted crossing her arms. It was only those three. They were waiting for Nina, Felli and Sharnid to come. Nina wasn't one to be late though, it worried the three on why she would be late.

Felli was always known for coming in late and Sharnid, Lyra didn't even bother to consider the fact that he would come. After all, he was a skipper.

"Hey Lyra! Your dite is done!" Harley's voice came from the other side. Lyra looked up her face brightening instantly.

"Is it really done? How is it? What type is it? Can I try it out now?" She bombarded him with questions.

"Yes, yes. You may try it. And the rest you'll figure out once you try it." He replied.

Lyra took the dite looking at it. It was light compared to the other one she used. "Restoration." she said as the weapon appeared. It was a sword like her other one but it was pure white.

"Wow… it's nice… but it's so light." she remarked while swinging it around.

"Yea… I chose the white one cause based off of your other dite, you use a lot of kei and white is the best one for conductivity," he explained.

"But… don't you think this will be hard to control. I mean with all that Kei especially?" Layfon added.

"Well, it won't break as easily." He replied with a shrug.

"Uh huh… right…" Lyra nodded. She understood what he was saying, but she wasn't really in the mood to listen, She just swung the sword around practicing it. She then concentrated her kei in it and swiped the blade sending a shock wave through out the dojo.

Harley let out a whistle in awe, "That was pretty good."

Lyra nodded surprised herself. She wasn't used such high conductivity. She then continued to swipe through the air sending out multiple shock waves. She sent out a huge blast, which ended up knocking over Harley's things.

"Wah! My computer!" he exclaimed catching it before it fell.

"Oops. Sorry!" Lyra quickly apologized.

"It's ok… nothing broke." Harley replied once making sure it was fine.

Lyra nodded as she took a deep breath. Harley watched as the kei disappeared from the dite, "You have good kei control." he remarked.

"Thanks. Courtesy of all the good teachers I had." she replied.

"Who taught you?" Harley asked.

"Meh… lot's of people, my brother taught me most of it. And a sensei back in Gredan." She replied.

"You call him Sensei?" Layfon coughed.

Lyra just shrugged. "He did teach me." Was her reply.

Just then the door opened and in entered Felli followed by Nina and Sharnid. They all stopped in he tracks looking at the place. Sharnid let out a whistle while Nina glared at the three. "What happened here?" she demanded.

All three of them tensed as they realized how trashed up the place was.

"Umm… Lyra, we may have over done it a little…" Layfon muttered.

"Only by a little." Lyra replied with a light chuckle.

"You mean to say you two did this?" Nina asked indicating.

"We didn't mean to, we were just training while waiting for you. Harley was also working on Lyra's dite so we were testing that out." Layfon explained. Lyra was next to him, nodding her head.

"Well must have been intense training then, if you two managed to damage the walls this bad…" Sharnid remarked with a chuckle walking in. Felli just stared at the two before turning away, "I'm heading to the locker room to change." Nina muttered something in agreement heading off to change as well. Sharnid let out a sigh following lazily.

Once the other three were out, Nina began the training.

"We'll work on evasive techniques." She started holding up a white ball. "Each of us will have two balls and your job is to try and hit them towards other, with out getting his yourself.

"Well this'll be fun." Lyra grinned, "Lay-chan we know who's gonna win here!" she glared at the boy.

"Um… I don't think so Lyra, you should probably take it easy, you did waste a lot of kei." Layfon replied uneasy.

"I don't think so! Don't try to make excuses, I'll be fine." She replied.

They were interrupted by a cough. Nina stood there giving the two of them a disapproval look. "If you two are done now…"

"Uh right." They both nodded straightening up. Nina tossed them all two balls each. Lyra caught the two feeling them. They were heavy and made of rubber. _Well this will be painful…_

"Question? Are we allowed to use dites?" Lyra asked.

Nina thought for a second before nodding. "Dites are allowed."

A small groan was heard from behind her. "Your putting Felli and I at a disadvantage then…"

"Well that's your problem." Nina replied before tossing a ball in the air.

With a signal the training began. Lyra instantly threw both of her balls in Layfon's direction. Layfon let out a sigh, "To predictable Lyra." He remarked moving away, only to get hit by a ball in a different direction.

"You should have seen that coming Layfon." Nina remarked shaking her head.

"Uh right sorry!" he apologized, before giving Lyra a "watch out" look.

Lyra gulped before turning her attention back to the match.

She turned around only to see a rubber ball coming directly at her face.

"Yipes!" she yelped jumping in the air only to have another right there. Lyra let out a groan kicking the ball away.

"Tch, so close." Sharnid sighed. Lyra narrowed her eyes getting ready to throw a ball, only to realize that she didn't have any.

"Dangit…" she grumbled landing.

"Oi! Pay attention!" her captain's voice was hear. Lyra quickly ducked the ball and quickly called out her dite. She then swung it at Sharnid who was getting ready to dodge one that was thrown towards him by Layfon. Lyra grinned realizing her was stuck, but at the last second, Sharnid restored his gun and shot the ball off in a random direction, and blocked Layfon's with his gun.

_Damn it… he's smart…_

Training went on for a while like that. Lyra tried her best to hit people. She ended up getting Sharnid a couple times and Felli, and ever Nina. But Layfon? None. That was annoying Nina as well. At one point, it was as if no one but Layfon mattered to her.

Now she had decided to end the training session.

"Good work everyone." She was saying in the locker rooms. "It seems that this may have helped, you guys can go home now. Our next platoon match is coming up soon. I'm not sure who it is yet, but I'll tell you once it get's closer. Till then, keep up the good work." And with that, they wee all dismissed. Everyone nodded heading off in their own directions.

Lyra thougha walk in the city would be fun. She was an explorer after all and she always like doing something, not sitting home.

Lyra let out a sigh walking through the city. It was crowded, just like Grendan. But something didn't feel right. She felt some sort of strange presence. It started ever since the attack back at the machineries, when those wolf masked people attacked.

Lyra looked around trying to see if she could spot anyone. No one. It didn't help being night time either. Lyra shifted her back on her shoulder uneasy as she continued on.

"Yo Lyra-chan!" a familiar voice called from right behind her causing her to jump, but quickly covered up turning around. It was Sharnid. He was walking around casually with both hands in his pockets.

"Oh, hello Senpai." She greeted him. Even though she didn't like it, he was older than her and she had been taught to call elders by their respective name, ever since she was little.

Sharnid made a scowling face, shaking his head. "Don't call me that. It makes me feel old."

"But I'm supposed to call you that. That and Harley and Nina do. she acknowledged.

"Yea well YOU don't." he replied.

"Ok… why not?" Lyra asked with her arms crossed.

"Does there have to be a reason for everything, Lyra-chan?" he asked swinging his hand up in the air. "Why do you let me call you Lyra-chan?"

Lyra just shrugged. He had a point.

"Alright I get the point." Lyra groaned while rolling her eyes.

"Hm? Something wrong?" he asked glancing down at her.

"It's… nothing…" she replied looking away. _Nothing you could help with anyways._

"Hmm… doesn't seem like nothing. I know! How about getting something to eat. My treat?" he offered.

Lyra just shook her head, "Sorry Sharnid, I think I over did it while training today. I want to go home and just rest. But thank you for the offer, maybe some other time." She apologized.

Sharnid just let out a sigh pretending to be hurt. "Fine then… I see how it is… I'll just go by myself." He pretended to sniff.

Lyra just rolled her eyes, "Have fun." She waved.

"So heartless…" he remarked.

"I am not! Knowing you, you'll just find some pretty woman to keep you occupied!" she retorted.

Sharnid just smirked leaning forwards, "Aww… is Lyra-chan jealous?"

"As if!" Lyra snorted moving back, quick to swing her hair in her face to hide her red cheeks. She then spun around on her heals and decided to head home. "I have to go home now, unlike you I have classes to attend to."

Sharnid laughed at that falling into steps next to her. "What makes you think I don't have classes?"

"Well you never go to them? I told you, I can tell you're a skipper." She replied.

"I may be a skipper, but that's only once in a while. I still go enough days to understand what's going on, and pass the classes, or else I wouldn't be in my fourth year now would I?"

Lyra just sighed shaking her head and decided to pretend that he wasn't there. Not that she was annoyed by him it, was more of the fact that someone was still watching her, was bothering her. She knew they were there, but where?

"Lyra-chan? Lyra-chan?" a hand swung down in front of her face, causing her to crash into it.

"Whoa, what?" she grumbled looking up at him.

"You didn't hear anything I just said did you?"

"Well depends on where you stopped talking?" she replied rubbing the back of her neck.

Sharnid just sighed shaking his head. "I said, isn't your apartment, down this way?" he asked.

Lyra blinked staring at the road. "It is… Haha thanks; I almost forgot…" she chuckled.

"More like you weren't paying attention." He muttered with a smirk.

"Hey, I still don't have this place mapped out ok?" she defended her self.

"You've been here for a month, maybe longer. Isn't that enough time?"

Lyra tried to think of a protest but gave up, "Oh what ever, _thank you_ alright? Well I'm off now. See ya tomorrow." She waved deciding to end the conversation.

"Sweet dreams!" Sharnid called out.

_If only…_ Lyra sighed as she entered her apartment. The feeling people were watching her was still there. Lyra stared out her window. No one. _Maybe it's my imagination?_ After all it had only been a month or two she was living here? She still wasn't used to the place. Lyra just decided to ignore it for now. After washing up and changing, she headed off to be, going into a fitful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hiya guys! Finally got the next chapter up! I'm so happy! Chrome Shelled Regios is out in English dubbed! So far I've gotten up to episode 13. Halfway through. But the thing is, I have to say I like their Japanese voice actors better. Maybe it's because I'm used to that. But I don't know… You guys should check it out!**_

_**Anyways, Sorry for taking so long to update this. I was working on another story of mines, plus Senior year and that means college time! I'm so nervous! I've started applying, but I don't know if I can get in or not! I really hope that I can! I need all the assurance I can get!**_

_Lyra,_

_Hope you didn't worry me? Honestly, how could I not worry when right after you left supposedly a filth monster had attacked? (From what Savaris-san said at least.) You really need to get into the habit of writing as soon as you get there. Oh well… I guess it's fine now. At least you made it there safely and I'm happy that you are having a good time. _

_I received a letter from Layfon a couple days ago. Unlike you, he always keeps me up to date with everything that is going on and does not slack off on it. *Ahem* He was telling me how surprised yet happy he was that you had come and explained all that you two had been doing. To think you'd run into Layfon and be in the same platoon as him. I don't know if it was a miracle or if it's irony that you two just happen to meet up in Zuellini. Now I'm definite that the queen planned that all along. I don't know. It's not my place to judge. At least you aren't lonely. Make sure to keep him in check for me and that he doesn't cause any problems._

_The orphanage is still full of noise and life. Father has left the dojo, but he's not teaching the kids at the orphanage; he's gone to teach in a real dojo. It's hard work to manage a dojo in Grendan, but people living nearby have enrolled, so we're making money. We plan to apply for government funding, so don't worry too much about the situation here. We're not getting as much money as we were when you and Layfon were helping here, but I think we can manage. _

_So how are you doing over there? Are you sick? Have you been eating well? I'm worried. You never pay much attention to the nutrients in your diet. It was thanks to father that you were eating healthy. I might have to tell Layfon to watch your diet, but then again, I don't know if he even watches his own diet._

_Well I have to go now. I have this huge essay to write. I don't know what to write though. It's so difficult, how did you do this? Then again… you weren't that great either._

_Bye!_

_Leerin_

_P.S. I expect you to write back quicker! If Layfon can do it then so can you!_

_P.P.S. I told Savaris-san what you said. All he did was scoff and waved it off saying that you owe him now. So you better be careful. _

Lyra sighed looking at the letter. She couldn't help but smile at the last part. Leave it Leerin to scold her. Even in a letters Leerin would still scold her. She had always been like that. Out of the three, Leerin was the most… sensible one could say, constantly nagging at them being like a mother. Lyra was the hyper one that always brought a smile, and Layfon was Layfon, always back there, constantly busy helping.

Lyra continued on to the next part of the letter. She had to agree. I was irony that the two met up again. It made her wonder had the Queen planned it or was it just a miracle.

Then again, Lyra had only met the Queen three or four times in her stay. She didn't feel that noticed by the Queen, unlike Layfon who was a Heavens Blade Receiver.

She then frowned reading the last paragraph. Not that great? Of course leave it to Leerin to worry about how they're eating. Honestly, that girl was worrying to much. She also went on to criticize Lyra's essays. Then again, those weren't that great. Leerin was right about that.

Lyra just sighed folding the paper up. _Well Leerin, you might have to wait on the reply quicker part._ She was in the locker rooms of the gym right now. Nina had managed to schedule a time for the team to use the training facilities and work on their teamwork. From what Lyra had seen so far, their teamwork wasn't that bad. Felli managed to warn everyone on time, Sharnid was helping out with the sniping, Lyra, Layfon, and Nina were good at fighting, so all in all, they were a pretty good team, but Nina disagreed. She said Lyra hadn't seen the team actually work. The platoon match was won by luck.

So now here Lyra sat waiting for the others. From how Nina acted, she hated people who were late, so Lyra did her best to come early. How ever she had come very early since no one was here.

The door opened and in stepped Harley.

"Hey Harley." Lyra waved.

Harley blinked, stopping in his tracks, "Hey there Lyra, you're here early."

Lyra just shrugged, "Well captain did say come early, so I came early." She replied.

"Oh, well just so you know, she says to come early, yet no one really does come early— minus, Layfon and herself of course."

Lyra smirked. That just left Sharnid and Felli. Of course she knew that Sharnid would come late. He had already been named the skipper and from what Harley had said earlier about him, it would have been a miracle if he came at all.

Felli on the other hand, Lyra did not know about. The girl was quiet and always made her own decision and went with that, not what others said. From what Layfon had told her, she was forced into the Military Arts so that explained why she didn't try her best.

"Oh well…" Harley sighed breaking into her thoughts, "It's a good thing you came early. I wanted to take a quick look at your Dite. Do you mind?" he asked.

"Oh not at all. Here you are." Lyra replied as she pulled out the white Dite, handing it to him.

"Thanks. I just need to see how it's holding out compared to your training." He explained as he walked over to where he had his computer and other things set up.

Lyra nodded watching him as he placed the Dite down and connected the wires up to it. After that, his computer turned on and numerous graphs appeared all showing the Dite's conditions.

Lyra blinked as she watched them all appear. She then got up and walked over to where he was reading them with a serious face.

"What is all that supposed to mean?" Lyra asked as she looked at the screen. Harley had been deep in his thoughts when he was reading the graphs, because he jumped when Lyra spoke.

"Oh sorry, well these are just showing the parts that have been stressed the most since you've used it.

Lyra nodded her head looking at the graphs. It showed a model of the Dite when restored and there were many spots that were red, indicating those areas were receiving the most stress.

"So… what do you plan on doing with it?" she asked. As Harley pulled up another graph which showed another view of the Dite.

"Well… right now nothing, because Nina should be here any minute now and that means I won't have time to work on it, but please try and be careful with the Dite. It's not going to break yet, but based on how you train today, it may start to crack." He asked in a begging voice.

Lyra smirked, "I though you preferred us having issues with our Dites."

"Well... It's one thing when I have to do repairs, its more work having to figure out a whole new Dite plus a setting for it, when there's nothing to go off of." He explained.

"Then why not save this data?" she offered.

Harley nodded his head, "That's what I'm doing right now, but still. From what Nina has said these next couple days are booked with training, so you may want to be careful so you have a weapon to fight with."

"Hmm… true…" Lyra nodded. Just then, they heard the door open, both Lyra and Harley looked up to see Layfon coming in. "Morning." He yawned."

"Hey Lay-chan! About time you got here." Lyra grinned patting him on the back.

"Ow!" was that really necessary Lyra?" Layfon asked in protest.

"Oh that was nothing." Lyra replied shaking her head.

Layfon just sighed shaking his head, "So what are you guys doing?"

"Eh… Harley's looking at my Dite." Lyra replied, bored now.

"Really now," Layfon replied.

"Yup." Lyra replied with a nod.

"Where's Nina?" he asked, excpecting the captain to appear from one of the stalls.

"Eh.. she's not here yet." Lyra replied looking at the watch. It was past the time they were supposed to be here.

"Hey morning everyone!" Another voice was heard. They all looked to see Sharnid coming in, "Wow… Nina's not here yet? Well looks like I'm saved." He remarked as he sat down on one of the benches.

"Well you took your time." Lyra remarked.

"Yeah… I got caught up with some stuff." He replied.

"What kind of stuff?" Lyra asked, curious.

Sharnid just shrugged, "Meh… stuff."

Lyra's face fell. "I asked what kind?"

The door opened and in walked Felli. "Wow, even Felli-chan is here before Nina. Now that's something." Sharnid remarked.

"Nina will be here shortly. She everyone be prepared to go onto the battle field." Felli explained as she went to change.

"Well looks like I better do the same." Sharnid grunted as he stood up stretching, be right back." He waved as he headed off to change.

Lyra sighed, bored again, "Where's Nina, I'm bored and I wanna get this started with." She groaned.

"Well Felli said she'd be here shortly." Layfon offered.

"Hey, Lyra, here's your Dite." Harley spoke up.

"Hmm?" Lyra looked at it before taking it, "Sweet thanks!" she grinned taking it.

"Just be careful with it." He asked.

"Don't worry it'll be fine." Lyra assured him.

Just then they saw Nina come in, "Well about time." Sharnid remarked as he and Felli had returned from changing and were now all waiting for Nina.

"Sorry for the wait." Nina apologized.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's not like we had anything else to do." Sharnid waved his hand, obviously meant as sarcasm, but Nina ignored it. She then turned to the rest, now, let's get going. We have a lot to do." She decided. The rest nodded their heads following.

"Felli can you tell us where the enemies lie?" Nina whispered. They were on the battlefield now. The training bots had been scattered through out the area and were programmed to fight as if this was an actual platoon match. Nina had went with the usual plan where Felli was hidden scouting the area, Sharnid was in the trees sniping the enemy, and Nina, Layfon, and Lyra on the ground ready to fight. Lyra bit her lip waiting for Felli to reply. She had been gone for a couple minutes now. It made Lyra wonder if the communication device, which used Felli's psychokinesis, worked or not.

"Three responses at point 1005." Felli's faint voice finally sounded through Lyra's earpiece.

Lyra nodded her head, getting ready. Then without exchanging glances, she, Layfon, and Nina rushed out of the bushes. An arm smashed suddenly into the place where the three had been hiding, then a robot shaped like a barrel with a wooden knife fitted onto its wrist was spraying red paint everywhere.

"Too slow!" Nina called out to Felli as she retreated.

Lyra landed on the ground sliding back, she then ran after the machine that was hidden in sight. It was supposed to be that Lyra and Layfon would sneak around, hiding in the trees, but Lyra saw as Layfon moved out of the shadow of the trees to make himself a target so Nina could concentrate on her fight.

Lyra quickly glanced back to see if Nina was all right. Nina was doing fine. She had jumped away from an arm that had coming swinging at her from her left.

Just then Lyra heard a rustling noise. She turned towards the rustle but suddenly a bang was heard and a blue kei bullet went over her head, barely touching and ht the bullet direction in the center causing it to blow up.

"Hey you shouldn't just be standing there you know, you got two—well now one— coming at you." Sharnid's voice suddenly sounded.

"That was too close for comfort now." Lyra called into her transmitter.

"Hey hey now. A thank you wouldn't be that bad." He remarked in his usual lazy voice.

"Yeah well I could have handled that perfectly fine. I don't need you to go hitting me in the head." She replied as she looked around trying to see where the next one was going to come from.

"Aww that's not nice. We're supposed to be a team Lyra-chan. I bet you a machine is going to come from two o'clock." He remarked. As if to answer his prediction, another robot appeared, slamming his axe down. The fake wooden axe chopped down towards Lyra's head. She took a step back and felt the passing of air at the tip of her nose.

"Great…" she groaned as she unexpectedly got herself into a fight.

"I told you so didn't I?" Sharnid remarked. Lyra grunted as she blocked the attack from the robot and ducked the other arm that came swinging at her from the side.

"Just shut up and help won't you?" she grunted as she slid back. Lyra tried to lash out at the robot, but it just scooted back and retaliated swing his axe down. Lyra barely had time to move. She wasn't expecting this robot to have that long of a range. It's arms were designed to be much longer giving Lyra a disadvantage.

Just then Lyra heard a grunt, looking over Lyra saw that Nina was busy fighting another robot. Form the looks of it, Nina had been fighting for a while now. Nina was panting and the robot was about to attack again. Lyra tensed, about to run towards her, but Nina then shot out a blast of kei obliterating the machine.

Lyra let out a sigh of relief. Now that Nina had won, Lyra didn't know what to do next. Should she lead the enemy to her and fight it together, knowing she couldn't block the fire from the other enemy? No, Nina would become the target of the enemy, and besides, she didn't have the confidence to work with her. Suddenly Lyra remembered what Savaris had said to her.

"_When in battle, don't depend on other's strength. That'll make you weak and you won't get anywhere."_ Lyra couldn't depend on the captain nor Layfon. Once the captain was defeated, they'd lose the match, so she must take care not to involve her in more danger. That and, glancing towards Layfon, Lyra saw he was already dealing with two other machines. The sound of the machine she was fighting brought her attention back to see the slashing his axe horizontally.

Confusion caused Lyra's movement to slow down. She avoided the axe, but the way she did it looked so ridiculous that even she was angry about it.

She'd lost her balance. Lyra watched as the axe came swinging towards her again.

At that moment, Nina headed straight for her. Perhaps she thought she couldn't avoid the next strike. Lyra felt the same. _Dammit…_ she groaned inwardly as she saw the attack coming.

Just then there was a bang. That was the bell signaling the end of the match rang through the air.

Lyra let out a sigh. "That wasn't that great…"

"You got that right." Sharnid's voice range through her helmet. "Nice dodge there by the way. Very… unique…" he added.

"Shut up!" Lyra's face heated up in embarrassment. She forgot the others could have seen that. Now that made it worse. On the other side, she could hear Sharnid laughing. "Honestly, you're probably a good dancer from the way you dodged. Did you make that up yourself?"

"Shut up." She growled, "At least I did more than you. You just sat up in a tree."

"I would have helped, but you guys kept blocking my view. If I tried shooting then I would have hit one of you and you did say that you didn't need my help." Sharnid replied.

"I asked for it later!" she retorted.

"Correction, you demanded for it, and by then I was busy trying to help Layfon." He replied.

Lyra just shook her head and started heading back towards the locker rooms. She glanced over at where Nina was standing, from the look on her face, she could tell she did not like how today's training went. A little off Layfon had the same face as well.

Lyra sighed standing up straight. She glanced over at where Layfon was standing awkwardly, looking at her. From his facial expression, she could tell that Nina wasn't going to be happy. This wasn't how she expected training to go.

"You're lucky the bell rang when it did." Nina remarked, looking at her.

"Heh… Yeah I guess so…" Lyra let out a nervous chuckle.

Nina shook her head disapprovingly. "Why didn't lead it towards Layfon, when you knew you were going to have trouble?" She questioned.

"Well… he was already busy with two others. I couldn't just depend on him." Lyra replied.

"Then why not lead it towards me?"

"If the captain fell then we'd have lost. So I figured that I would deal with it on my own." She explained.

Nina sighed shaking her head, "That's for me to decide."

Lyra didn't reply. She knew that was true, but the captain herself was busy with an enemy so she didn't want to add more stress for her. Plus it wasn't like Lyra couldn't handle the enemy. It was just that, she was still getting used to working in a platoon. Even though she had been part of the group for a while now, they didn't do these types of training that often because of the tight budget and when they did, it was always the same ending.

Nina then moved on to the next person. "Layfon, when you saw that you were stuck in that situation, why didn't you lead the enemy towards me?" she asked.

Layfon tensed for a second, "Well… it's like Lyra said, if you fell, then we would have lost. I could act as bait and draw the enemy out. Plus you were busy with an enemy."

Nina let out a groan, shaking her head. "You both need to stop making decisions by yourself. There's a reason why we're a platoon. Our job is to work together and I'm the captain and I make the decisions." She then turned towards Sharnid who had lifted the towel from his face, "Why didn't you cover Layfon?"

"It's not easy to avoid shooting your own teammate. Layfon needed to accurately sense the timing of my shot and move accordingly." He explained waving his hand.

"Felli, your searching speed was too slow. Can't you be faster?" Nina asked.

"That was my limit." Came the monotone voice. Lyra glanced at their captain's face. She could tell that Nina was getting angry from the excuses being made.

Just then they heard a knock on the door. All of them looked up to see Harley entering the room. He stopped in his track when he felt the tension in the room.

"What is it?" Nina demanded glaring at him.

"Ah… um… I came to help Lyra with her setting of the Dite. Since that actually didn't break, I thinki can get some detailed settings done." He explained scratching his head.

"Oh right… Hey it didn't break!" Lyra remarked looking at the Dite in her hands. Earlier that day, Harley had been saying something about after practice he would look at her Dite and based on training, he would make one that didn't break on her.

Lyra didn't get why it happened. The one she used back in Grendan never caused her trouble. Normally the reason why it broke would be because of Savaris, and him going over board with his attacks. But even that started to lessen.

Could it be that the material the two cities used were different? Lyra wasn't sure about that answer. To her both felt the same, when she used them.

"I just said that Lyra…" Harley started with a sweat drop. He then looked at the others, "Does any else need weapon adjusting?" he asked looking at the others.

"Nope I'm good!" Sharnid replied, sitting up.

"Mine's okay." Felli shook her head.

"If there's anything, I'll let you know." Nina replied waving her hand.

"Man you're all boring…" Harley sighed. He then looked at Layfon.

"How about you Layfon?" he asked.

"No I'm good for now." Layfon replied. Harley sighed nodding his head, before he started walking around gathering his things. Lyra watched him gather his things while whistling a tune.

That's when she heard shifting. She looked to see Sharnid getting up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Well training's finished and even if we had a meeting there wouldn't be much to talk about, so I'll go back after a shower. Got a date afterwards." He winked at her before leaving the room.

"Hey! Wait!" Nina called out to him.

"I'm leaving as well." Felli said getting up.

Lyra watched them leave, she then glanced at Layfon who seemed to be debating whether to stay or not. Lyra was about to make up a reason for him to stay, but then suddenly he made an excuse saying he promised he'd help Naruki with a dispatch job.

_Grr… stupid Layfon._ Now Lyra was stuck. She would have left as well but Harley wanted to needed to check her Dite, which could have waited till later, but of course he wanted to check it now.

With her head on her hands, Lyra watched Nina standing there. She had nothing to say to her. Her shoulders were trembling thinking of all the things she could be yelling at them about.

Lyra bit her lip. It suddenly felt awkward. She felt she needed to say something but what? Earlier that week Lyra had been the one saying that their teamwork was fine and Nina shouldn't stress over it too much, but this training had proven other wise. It wasn't that the team it self was bad, just that it lacked communications. Everyone wanted to do their own things, but no one else would understand them. A good example was when Sharnid had shot the robot that Lyra was fighting. Lyra placed a hand on top of her head. Everything was still in place, but she couldn't help but shiver at the thought of the bullet hitting her.

Just then she heard a groan. Looking up, Lyra saw Nina walking out. The irritating sound of the door closing affected the air of the room.

"It'd be good if she calmed down a bit," Harley said, smiling.

"Hm?" Lyra looked over at him.

"Seriously, Nina can act calmly, but she's impatient now. That can't be helped." He went on saying as he wrapped a wire around Lyra's Dite.

"You understand her?" She asked.

" Well kind of… We're good childhood friends." He explained.

"Oh…" Lyra nodded her head, "That explains a lot." But then her brows furrowed in confusion, "Wait, Layfon had told me that she…" She trailed off not wanting to be nosey.

"Ran away from home? Do you think she wouldn't know anybody at the place she ran away to?" Harley said cheerfully.

Lyra frowned, "Well duh… I should have guessed that." Lyra hit herself on the head.

"Don't worry about it. Can you restore your Dite now?" he asked.

Lyra nodded her head and restored her Dite. The wire around the Dite started to glow yellow, conveying its information to the machine.

She just stared at the wires, thinking. "Why did senpai want to form a platoon?"

"Do you find it hard to believe?" Harley smirked replying.

"Well… she's only a third year, isn't she? I heard that most of the platoon captains are fourth year or above. Hasn't she still got time?" she asked.

"Yeah, if you look at the study years, then there's still time," Harley nodded. "But who knows whether this city still has time." He replied, his fingers flying on the keyboard, Harley asked, "You know right? You should have heard of it from the Student President."

"Yeah… I heard." Lyra replied. Earlier that week, the Student President had called her in, explaining Zuellini's conditions. They really didn't have much time. She understood why Nina would want to make her own platoon. In Zuellini, every person counted. She wanted to make the city much stronger and survive because this city gave her a chance.

"He said it was to make us more alert of danger, but he did all that to increase our fighting strength." Harley explained.

"Is that really it?" Lyra asked shifting her weight onto her left foot.

Harley shrugged, "I honestly don't know, but I feel that he's not saying all of it. He's stubborn." He replied.

Lyra smirked. To think Harley would think of the president like that.

"Anyways, let's leave the Student President aside for now." Harley clapped his hands, pulling Lyra back into reality. "The time Nina spends here is important to her. You should know since you heard of her running away." He went on as he stood up and walked over to where Lyra was taking the wires off of her Dite.

"Well I got all the information I need. I'll work on seeing if there are any other options for your Dite. Till then just be careful with it."

Lyra yawned, nodding her head, "Alrighty then. If that's everything, then I'll be off." She decided.

Harley nodded his head. "See ya." He waved as she headed out the door.

Lyra let out a sigh as she now walked the streets. It was almost time for her to go to work. She needed to change and then head off to the machineries to clean.

She looked up at the sky, trying to see as far as possible.

Nina had said that she wanted to see what a majority of people couldn't see: the world outside the city. That was true though, many people didn't get to see the outside world. They only saw what was in the city.

Lyra was lucky, so far in her eighteen years; she had traveled to three cities, Zuellini being her third city. As she traveled, she saw how bare the land was. It showed no proof of life.

Most people didn't know that though. It wasn't easy traveling from city to city, most people lived their entire life, just in one city, not knowing what the rest of the world was like.

It was extremely taxing to get on a roaming bus and traveling to another cit, that and it was dangerous.

Lyra thought back to the letter Leerin had written. A filth monster had attacked as soon as the roaming bus departed, or so Savaris had said, but it was still believable. When Lyra was leaving hr first home, the same thing had happened, thought Lyra could not remember what happened to that monster. Obviously it was destroyed, but Lyra couldn't remember.

Lyra let out a sigh as she blinked a couple times looking at the street again. She was at her apartment now. When did she get here? She never realized that this was how far she had walked and it was a miracle that she didn't bump into anything either. _'Oh well… miracles do happen.'_ She thought to herself as she went inside and changed out of her uniform into something more casual. After brushing her hair down, she headed out again to the machineries.

Arriving there, Lyra headed over and gathered her things. She then started off for her usual spot where she annd Nina would start cleaning.

Lyra hummed to herself as she moved her brush up and down cleaning off the stains. It was very important that they kept this place clean and in check. After all this was what kept the city running.

Suddenly she heard a small giggle. Lyra stopped what she was doing and looked around. She then saw a blue light zip past her.

Lyra followed the light and soon found herself face to face with a small blue-colored girl, floating right in front of her face.

"Whoa." Lyra moved back. The girl just giggled. That's when she realized.

This was Zuellini, the Electronic Fairy of this city.

This is what they fought for.

"Well hello there." She smiled.

Zuellini giggled reaching a hand out. Lyra reached forwards as well and the girl grabbed onto her finger shaking it.

Lyra smiled.

If they lost in this Military Arts Competition, the city would lose its fuel source. In other words, the city's consciousness that he came across at the Mechanical Department – that cute Electric Fairy would face its death.

What a tragic thing.

But she couldn't really feel that happening. She head about it happening in other cities, but not the one she lived in herself.

Suddenly the place shook, causing Lyra to lose her balance.

"What the—ow!" she grunted as she fell to the floor. Zuellini let out a small noise and flew off. "Hey!" Lyra called after it.

Suddenly she heard a siren ringing. Lyra stood up brshing her clothes off. She tensed as she heard it ring. There was only one reason why it would ring like that.

Filth monsters were attacking.


	8. Chapter 8

**Helloooo everyone! I apologize for not updating for a very long time! I'm honestly writing to many stories right now. I think I'm going to take a break on a couple of them and focus on two stories now. (I wonder how that's going to work out.) Anyways here's the next chapter! Hope you all like it!**

Lyra panted as she ran hurried down the streets towards the main academy.

As soon as she heard the alarm sound, everyone at the machinery dropped their things and headed out of the building.

"Lyra, come on! We have to get out of here! That siren means trouble." someone called out as they hurried out. Lyra stood there confused. She was debating whether she should clean up first and then run, but just shook her head and ran after the others. She felt bad for leaving the items there, but hit her self on the head. 'Now's not the time to think of those little things!'

"Lyra, come on, quickly!" Lyra looked up and saw her captain, Nina up ahead. Lyra quickened her speed, by channeling some kei towards her feet, but not much, knowing she would need it later.

They quickly arrived to the main building. Lyra stopped to look around. It was crowded. The police force was standing there routing the others towards shelter, while the military arts students were heading inside the building.

Lyra quickly headed inside the building. She had lost site of Nina when she decided to pause and look around. _'Great… where am I supposed to go?'_ she thought looking around. Suddenly a pink petal came floating by her.

"_Head straight down to the briefing hall."_ It was Felli's voice! Lyra nodded her head. "Thanks Felli!" she said as she hurried down. The pink petal was with her guiding her. Lyra soon arrived to the briefing hall.

Inside, it was packed with the Military arts students. Most of them were already in uniformed others were not. Lyra looked around. Those that came at the last second, hadn't changed yet.

"Lyra, over here!" she heard Sharnid's voice call out. Lyra looked up and noticed the orange haired sniper waving to her.

Lyra's face brightened a little as she noticed him and Layfon right next to him. She then started to squeeze between apologizing and excusing herself as she accidentally tripped over people and trying not to interrupt the president who was explaining the situation. Well he was more like giving a pep talk to the group before sending them off

They all pretty much knew where they were supposed to be. Lyra paused as she listened and then continued on listening as she walked on.

Suddenly she went stepping on someone's foot "Ow!" they hissed. Lyra looked up and saw it was Layfon's foot.

"Oops! Sorry!" she apologized.

"Well you took your time." Sharnid's voice came from behind her.

Lyra turned around and saw Sharnid smile, waving. She then frowned, "Not my fault I didn't know where I was supposed to go. It was thanks to Felli I made it here." They then heard a cough and it was Felli a little ahead of them.

Lyra then turned her attention to the President. "Zuellini has two of her legs stuck in a ditch. Unfortunately as she struggled to get out, she disturbed a nest and now Filth monsters are swarming out. You must hold them off long enough." He was ordering.

He then swung his hand down, "Since you've been staying here, Zuellini has provided you with a home and protection from the outside pollution. Now it's time we repay her. Failure is not an option! Our lives and this city depend on how efficiently you all can hold them off. Now move out!" he ordered, pointing at them all.

Everyone cheered hurrying out. Lyra filed out between Sharnid and Layfon.

"So we're just supposed to defend Zuellini from the filth monsters?" she asked, clarifying.

Layfon nodded his head. "That's right…" he started but Sharnid interrupted.

"Well you could say that. Though most of us just sit there and watch while Mr. Macho here does all the work." He replied glancing at Layfon with a smirk.

Lyra smirked at that. Of course that would be the case. Her face straightened then, "But where am I supposed to be?" she asked, realizing that she didn't have a position. This was her first time fighting in a situation like this. There had been many times in Grendan where there were attacks, but Lyra would just go into shelter with Leerin.

Layfon thought for a second, "Well most likely with Nina. Speaking of which, where is the captain?" he asked looking around.

"Right here." They spun around and saw Nina in her uniform.

"Well the captain finally appears." Sharnid remarked.

Nina rolled her eyes and turned towards Lyra tossing her a uniform. "Put this on quickly. You're going to be part of my squad so quickly." She ordered.

Lyra nodded her head catching the uniform. She looked at it. It was much different from her original uniform she wore during platoon matches. These were specifically built for the outside.

"Wow…" she thought.

"Hurry!" Nina's voice came

Lyra jumped, nodding and hurried off to change.

**~xXx~**

They all stood at the base of Zuellini. Lyra looked around the place, her eyes wide under her helmet.

There was a line of blackness in the sky and then the ground before them was black, swarming with filth monsters.

Suddenly Lyra felt a rush of realization hit her. These were the creatures that defeated Noemi… And image of a mature filth monster diving at her, appeared in her head. Lyra suddenly felt a rush of fear run through her. The screeching sounds of the monsters as they attacked, the cries of pain by the soldiers followed by the crushing noises.

"Lyra, focus now!" She heard Nina order. The captain noticed Lyra looking around in shock and could sense the uneasiness drifting off of her.

Lyra shook her head quickly and brought her attention back to the swarm of filth monsters in her section. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Aww don't tell me, little Lyra-chan in nervous." She suddenly heard Sharnid's voice radioing in.

Lyra's eyes narrowed, "I'm not scared. Just a little uneasy." She replied.

"Which means you're nervous." he repeated himself.

Lyra growled, about to argue, but Nina's voice broke in.

"Now's not the time to discuss this." She ordered.

Sharnid's voice came chuckling in. "Relax I'm not losing focus anytime soon. I have a date tomorrow and gotta make sure I don't get any unnecessary scratches that'll ruin my face." He remarked.

Lyra heard Nina give a groan of disapproval, but she couldn't help but smile. Even though they were in a situation like this, he was still able to make these types of jokes.

She then let out a sigh taking another deep breath to calm herself. "Okay, give the word already." She replied as she restored her dite.

Nina didn't reply. She just waited, looking around. Lyra looked over at her captain and saw she was staring at a line. It wasn't there, but it was an imaginary line created in her head. Once she saw a filth monster cross it, then she would order the attack.

Then she heard a growling noise. Nina's eyes widened. Lyra took that as a signal to get ready, and started channeling her kei towards her feet. She would need it there most, to help in evading the attacks. That's what Layfon had told her before the start of battle. Around her, she felt the other students preparing for the order.

Then she did.

Nina raised one of her whips in the air and shouted out the order to attack. Around her, Lyra felt the soldiers starting to run.

Lyra waited a couple seconds and once everyone was ahead of her she followed in pursuit. She wanted to see where everyone was going before running off. After all these were people she had never fought before. Some she fought in platoon matches and others she had seen fight once or twice, but that wasn't enough. She didn't want to get in the way of them and screw up.

Lyra watched as they all charged at different monsters. A couple of them were ganging up on single monsters. That was smarter. One human stood no chance against a filth monster, but with multiple attacking, it would be more affective.

Just then she heard one give out a roar and a cry of pain.

Lyra looked to see someone being tossed in the air. They were about to be swallowed by the person.

Lyra's eyes widened. She started running towards that person, praying she would make it in time. Risking a little more Kei in her legs, she arrived to where the Filth monster had opened its mouth, about to eat. Lyra channeled her kei to her feet and jumped up, and then focused it towards her dite, slashing upwards, closing the monster's mouth.

She then flipped backwards, and landed a little off from where the Filth Monster was still recovering. Behind her, she heard the other person land.

Lyra turned around, though it was useless to try and see whom the person was that she just helped since they had helmets on.

"Are you all right?" She asked the person.

They nodded their head. It was obvious from the way they were shaking this was their first time.

Lyra sighed as a couple other students came running over to help the person.

Lyra then moved on. Around here, rubble was flying around. Lyra squinted her eyes to see past it all. It was dangerous with all this dust flying all over the place. It was making it hard for the students to see. And the screeching of the Filth monsters wasn't helping the students focus either.

Suddenly she felt something collide with the base of her neck. Lyra could only gasp as she fell forwards and hit the ground, knocking the breath out of her.

"Lyra get up!" she heard a voice call out. Who called out to her? It sounded like a female's voice, but then at the same time she heard a male's voice calling and then she heard the deafening roar of a filth monster, which echoed through out the area.

Echo?

Lyra's eyes shot open. Everything was a blur at first. She blinked a couple times and soon things started to clear up. She grunted as she sat up. Her side was throbbing.

Lyra looked down at it, but there was no external injury. She probably broke a couple ribs. She looked up again hearing a metal clanging noise. Where was the metal sound coming from?

That's when Lyra noticed. She was inside a building.

_A building?_ She thought.

Why was she here? She was supposed to be outside fighting filth monsters.

That's when she heard a creaking noise.

Lyra jumped as she heard the noise and soon light started to enter the room.

Lyra shielded her eyes as the light entered and that's when she recognized the place. It was a loading dock. But of where?

Suddenly the entire area came to life.

"_Dock seven is preparing to launch."_

"_Dock eight will be deporting shortly."_

"_All passengers are to keep their belongings with them at all times."_

"_Folks, please remain calm and enter in a single file line. Everything will be taken care of shortly."_

Lyra looked around hearing the voices. She then noticed a small light up in the corner of the building. Lyra squinted her eyes, trying to see what it was. Luckily, being a military artist, their eyesight was advanced biologically, allowing them to see things further and clearer.

That's when Lyra noticed the small doll like figure. It was the Electronic Fairy.

"Noemi!" Lyra called out. She was about to jump up when a jet of dirt came erupting form the ground a little off from her feet. Lyra quickly pulled her legs in as she saw something emerge from the dirt. It took her a couple seconds to realize what it was. But then she saw glowing red eyes.

Lyra's eyes widened. It was a filth monster. She cringed, covering her ears with her hands as it let out a deafening roar.

Then before she knew it, it was charging at her.

Lyra's eyes widened, as she sat there not able to do anything. But then at the last minute, she felt an arm wrap around her and pulled her back.

"Phew that was too close... Now what did I tell you about just sitting there when you should be channeling your kei to your arms and leg and trying to jump back?" the person remarked. Lyra blinked. She then noticed the lock of red hair.

She turned her head towards the person, trying to recognize them. The man turned his face towards her and smiled.

It was Dixerio! But how?

"You okay?" he asked.

Lyra nodded her head slowly. She was about to speak, but he looked away and his eyes narrowed.

"Oh great…" He groaned as he placed Lyra down and stood up again, taking a step forwards and got in front of her.

Lyra's eyes widened as she looked over.

It was them, The Wolf Masked people.

Three of them stood before the two.

"Hmph, back for attempt number three are we?" Dixerio remarked as he dug his dite into the ground.

The Wolf Masked figures all restored their swords. "Hand over the fairy." One of them spoke.

"You ask as if we're willing to do that." He growled as he pulled his dite out and ran at the three.

"Dixerio!" Lyra called out to him, but the red haired man didn't seem to hear. He went lashing out at one of them, who parried the attack. Dixerio tried to push down on the person. Lyra could see him struggling. That's when Lyra saw the other two appearing behind him.

"Watch out!" She called out as she ran forwards. She pulled out her own dite and restored it. How ever, instead of it being the sword she had been recently using, it was a long staff.

"Huh?" Lyra blinked. When did she get this? She was supposed to have a sword. Not this Bo staff. She then shook her head and quickly hurried forwards.

Lyra skid to a halt behind Dixerio, facing the two Wolf Masked figures in the air. Not thinking of what she was doing, she started to twirl her staff and channeled her Kei through it. Soon enough the ends sparked with a green colored electricity and as the two Wolf Masked figured made contact with her staff, they were both electrocuted on the spot and cried out. They landed on the ground, not moving and smoke coming off of them.

Lyra then heard clapping. She looked over and saw Dixerio standing there, smiling, "That was perfect! You finally did it!" he remarked.

Lyra just panted and looked around. That's when she remembered. "Where's Brother?" she asked.

She saw Dixerio's expression turn strict, "He's not here. Now come on. We gotta get to the buses." And before Lyra could speak, he grabbed her arm and they hurried towards the buses.

"Alright here get on." He said pushing her towards it.

"Wait, what about Brother?" Lyra demanded again.

Dixerio sighed, "I already told you. He isn't here any more." He replied.

"But—"

"Look," Dixerio stopped her. He then took a deep breath. "You're brother isn't here. He was crushed by a filth monster."

That's when it hit Lyra. "No…"

Dixerio nodded his head. His eyes filled with pain.

Lyra suddenly felt tears in her eyes. "That can't be!"

Dixerio shook his head, "I'm sorry… but it's the truth."

Lyra shook her head about to argue. "He can't be! He had to have escape—" She was cut off by the announcement that the bus was about to leave.

"Alright, Lyra get inside. The door is about to close." Dixerio said as he pulled her in for one last hug.

Lyra was now crying. He then moved her back in a seat. "Alright I'm sorry to do this." He said as he placed a hand on Lyra's head.

Lyra' looked up with tears streaming down her face. Suddenly she felt light headed. She let out a quiet moan and was out.

Dixerio frowned. "Sorry for that." He whispered as he shifter her so she was lying in a more comfortable position. Then the announcement was heard that the bus was leaving. Dixerio jumped out of the bus and watched as the doors closed and the bus started to leave.

"_Lyra get out of there!"_

Lyra's eyes flung open.

Where was she now?

"Lyra! Move!" Whose voice was that now?

There were so many thoughts going through her mind at the moment, but none of it comprehended. Lyra could only stare and watched.

Suddenly a roar was heard. Lyra's thoughts instantly organized themselves. She looked around and saw she was in a field of filth monsters.

_I'm in Zuellini…_ she realized. She then saw a shadow over head. Lyra turned to see a tail coming down towards her.

"Lyra!" the voice was literally yelling in frustration. It was Nina's voice. Lyra could sense the anger and panic in her voice. The tail went striking down.

"Oi! Lyra pay attention!" That was Sharnid's voice, calling out to her.

Suddenly everything clicked. Some how his voice made her realize what was actually going on. But it was too late. The tail was about to hit. Lyra looked away as it came and waited for the death to engulf her.

"Lyra!" Multiple voices called out. The crash never came. Instead there was a grunt.

Lyra's eyes shot open. There in front of her stood someone blocking the tail. She blinked. Who was that? They were facing the monster, trying to push the tail away.

"Hey what are you doing standing around? Move already?" another voice demanded. Before Lyra could speak, a short figure went ramming into her side pushing her away. Lyra barely had a chance to see the other man moving the other way.

Lyra coughed and gasped for a breath as the shorter figure moved off of her. "What were you thinking standing around?" they started to yell. Lyra finally had a chance to see through the opening in the eye to see who it was. It was a short girl, with narrows eyes. She looked furious.

Lyra blinked as she stood up brushing herself off. "I-I'm sorry." She apologized, "Thanks for saving me." She started.

The girl just huffed, "Thank Goro, not me. Now quit standing around. This isn't the time to be day dreaming!" the girl said and before Lyra could even nod, she was off.

Lyra quickly shook her head. What was going on? She looked around at her surroundings. Though she was able to see that she was outside of Zuellini, fighting filth monsters, her mind was still back in Noemi. An image of the small doll like face popped in her head.

_Noemi…_ The city she grew up in. Many times she had seen the small fairy floating around on her own. Lyra had met with her too. That fairy would come up to Lyra and play with her, but now…She was gone and with it went her family, her home, and lastly her brother…

Lyra turned around to glare at the monster that stood before her. They were all just charging forwards, not affected by any attacks hitting them. One was aiming at her in particular. "It's your fault…" she glared at the beast. The beast just roared at her in a response, but Lyra didn't flinch. She was beyond her normal self now. Inside her, she could feel the kei boiling, begging to be released.

The filth monster jumped up in the air. Its shadow formed above Lyra and Lyra watched as it started to come down towards her. Around her things started to get silent. At first she was just hearing a roaring sound and faintly, she could hear Nina's voice calling to her to move, but even that disappeared. The only sound she could hear was the pounding of the blood, adrenaline, and kei flowing through her body.

Then, using the newly active kei in her body, she focused the internal kei towards her leg, and in blinding speed, jumped up in the air, as she went higher, she focused the kei from her feet to her arms, into her sword and went slicing the beast into two. She could hear the echo of the cry that was about escape before it was killed. The creature landed in two pieces and Lyra landed a little off from it, blood all over her uniform. She tried and wipe some of it off of her visor, but it wasn't that affective.

But it didn't matter.

She then turned around and saw herself surrounded by a swarm of them. Lyra looked at them all and then, still focusing her kei in her legs and channeling some to her right arm that was gripping the sword, Lyra ran in a direction. She let out a battle cry as she swiped her blade in front of her. Her sword was emitting a green light and as she swung it around, a path of electricity followed the strip of green kei that went towards the filth monsters. Around her, Lyra saw the filth monsters freezing up. The electricity that was now surrounding the area was paralyzing them all and as the frequency increased, more started to drop. The insides of the monsters were getting friend and liquefied, causing them to just drop dead, with blood oozing out of them.

Suddenly, Lyra stopped in front of Zuellini's leg. She felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her, drowning her kei away. Lyra staggered to look at the surrounding. The filth monsters that had stood once before her were dead.

Lyra's eyes widened. "Whoa…" she hadn't even realized what had happened. The couple minutes she had just taken to wipe out the filth monsters in that area were a blur.

_What did I do?_ She asked herself. She was about to walk forwards, but suddenly, everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

It was quiet when Lyra woke up.

The first thing she thought was _I'm dead._ She felt dead. She couldn't feel anything. It felt as if she were floating. That and everything was so peaceful sounding. The entire area was white. Wherever Lyra moved her eyes, she saw whiteness. The ceiling, walls, even when she looked out the window, everything was white.

_Hm… this isn't so bad…_ She instantly slapped herself. No she couldn't be dead. She could feel her heart beat increasing at the thought. That's when she realized. Her heart was beating. That means she was alive!

Of course she was alive. Why wouldn't she be? But then again… she couldn't remember what happened yesterday. They were fighting Filth Monsters. But how did it end?

Lyra sighed. As she did, tried to sit up. That's when all of the feelings came welcoming back and it was the worse welcome ever. Shocking pain coursed from her neck, down her back and through out her entire body. Lyra bit her lip and closed her eyes trying to wait for the pain to pass, but it stayed for a while. This pain… That meant she screwed up in the fight, thus ending up here.

"Well, well. Looks like sleeping beauty has finally awake." Lyra jumped hearing the voice. She didn't even realize someone was in the room. Either they had their kei hidden, or she just wasn't thinking. Most likely it was the latter.

Lyra then let out a sigh. She didn't even need to look to know who it was, but still she turned her head until her eyes landed on an orange blurb that was next to what she believed to be the door. Lyra blinked a couple times.

Blurb? Why was it a blurb? Movement from the top part of the blurb made her realize it was a person.

"Sharnid is that you?" she asked squinting her eyes.

"The one and only." He replied with a wave, "What's with the squinty eyed look?" he asked.

Lyra blinked a couple times and frowned, "Sorry I can't see right now." She replied, crossing her arms.

Sharnid had moved from the door to the seat next to her bed. Now she was able to see him better.

"Can't see? What you mean blind?" She heard him ask. From the way he was asking, he actually sounded serious.

Lyra shook her head, "No… not blind. Everything's just really blurry." She explained with her hands out in front of her. Up close, it was perfectly fine, but once her hands were arm lengths away, all the fingers joined together.

"Blurry?" he repeated and then crossed his arms, "Hmm that's strange." He thought.

Just then they heard a knock on the door. Both of them turned their head towards it. The door opened. Lyra squinted to see who it was. From what she could make out, it was a doctor.

"Oh you're awake?" she said, sounding slightly surprised. Then turning towards Sharnid, "You were supposed to come get me when she woke up."

Sharnid gave a small laugh, "Well, she kinda just woke up." He replied with a shrug.

The nurse just rolled her eyes and turned towards Lyra.

"Um… hi." Lyra started.

"How are you feeling Lyra?" the nurse asked.

"Meh… weird." Lyra replied, attempting to shrug, but her body didn't respond to it exactly.

"Any concerns?" the nurse asked.

Lyra looked at her and then replied, "A lot. Everything hurts, can't move exactly, and I can't see." She explained.

The nurse nodded her head as she wrote it down, "Well the pain is from recent events. You have a couple torn muscles, which we managed to fix, but the pain will be there for the next couple days. I would recommend, you rest for at least a week." She explained.

Lyra nodded her head. That made sense. She didn't exactly remember the battle well, but from the pain she was experiencing, it must have been bad. "What about my eyesight?" she asked.

"Let me see." The nurse replied as she wrote something else down. She then pulled out a small object and started to shine the light in Lyra's eyes.

"Hold still." She said to her as she tilted the younger girl's head up and looked into her eyes. She looked for a while, ordering Lyra to look up, down, left, and right.

She then moved back. "Well from the looks of it, it seems that you exhausted your eyes by channeling your kei." She explained.

Lyra blinked. "Is that even possible?"

The nurse nodded her head. "Especially used for spying purpose, the user will enhance their eyesight by channeling kei towards their eyes. However, the body will involuntarily do it as well when in a fight. This is one of the defense mechanisms that our bodies have evolved to do. So when you were fighting the filth monsters, you were directing your kei from your eyes and to different parts of the body and then back to the eyes. This caused strain to your eyes thus developing myopia." The nurse explained.

Lyra nodded her head slowly. Next to her Sharnid just let out a whistle. "Heh myopia huh? Well that gives me another excuse to add." He remarked leaning back in his chair.

The nurse shook her head, "Those that use long range combat are trained to properly channel the kei from their eyes to other parts of the body. However out bodies will naturally do it as well when put in a life threatening situation like you all were."

Lyra bit her lip as she thought. Myopia… that was another term used for nearsightedness. That wasn't good. How was she supposed to see anything far off? It was already difficult enough aiming long range attacks. That's mostly why she wanted to use swords. But if she couldn't see what was far ahead, how was she supposed to prepare?

Forget about training and fighting, just everyday life would be difficult.

"Soo…" Lyra started, but then paused as she tried to reword what she wanted to ask.

"Is this fixable?" Sharnid suddenly ask. Lyra looked up at the nurse, wondering the same thing.

"Of course it is!" The nurse replied. "One way is glasses, but some times that just makes your eye site worse, since your eyes get used to the glasses and depend on it. Another way is contacts and the third is surgery." she explained.

"Surgery?" Lyra blinked.

The nurse nodded her head. "It's not that bad. It has a very high success rate. We can do that here as well. So you wouldn't have to transfer." She explained.

Lyra nodded her head. Glasses, contacts, or surgery? Those were her three options. She would need to choose between the three.

"Personally I think you should just go with the surgery. Wouldn't want you hiding your beautiful face behind a pair of glasses now." Sharnid remarked as he winked at her.

Lyra just rolled her eyes at the comment. But surgery would be better. Glasses would be risky while fighting since they could break easily and the same with contacts, and issues of getting things in the eyes and then that's even more trouble. But they were cheaper…

"I don't know. I'll decide later." She decided.

The nurse nodded her head, "Well for now, I would recommend the glasses, they don't cost much at all and it will be a way to see until you decide on the surgery." She added.

Lyra nodded her head. That would be the smarter way to go. "Okay then, do I need to do any specific test?" she asked and instantly felt dumb.

"Yes, you need the eye examination done. We can do that today if you want and you will have a prescription and then you can go to a local glasses store here in the city and order there." She explained as she wrote something down.

"Now excuse me, I'm going to go get it set up for you. Till then just stay here and don't try leaving this time?" she said to Lyra.

Lyra blushed as she remembered how she did that the previous time. "Right… don't worry. I wont." she told the nurse.

"Not like you can either"" Sharnid spoke up and smiled at the nurse, "I'll make sure she doesn't leave."

The nurse nodded her head and then left then room. Lyra sighed staring at the door. As she shut the door, Sharnid let out a sigh and laugh.

Lyra raised a brow as she turned towards him again and squinted. Now she was able to make out his face somewhat. But still it wasn't much.

Sharnid laughed again, "Keep it up and you're gonna get wrinkles." He remarked.

That fixed Lyra's expression. "But I can't see now!" she protested.

Sharnid just shrugged, "It's your choice. Beside, squinting doesn't make that big of a difference."

Lyra sighed. He was right. But still.

It felt strange not being able to make anything out. She looked around the room again. There were pictures on the wall, but they blended in with the white wall behind it. Lyra blinked, trying to see if it would help, but it didn't work.

"Sooo… you're going with glasses now huh?" he suddenly asked.

Lyra shrugged, "For now yes, that is until I can save up enough to get the surgery done." She told him.

"Well it really doesn't cost much to get it done, you know?" he muttered.

Lyra looked at him, "For me, it's still a lot, plus I rather wait…"

"Wait? For what?" he asked.

Lyra shrugged, "Nothing really, I just mean wait and see how it is with glasses and may be I won't have to get it." She explained.

Sharnid raised a brow, "That's risky you know…"

"Well it depends on how good I am at evading in battles…" she replied.

"And if someone sets a trap and an explosion happens and your glasses go flying off? Then what?" he asked.

Lyra sighed, thinking, "Well… then I could go with contacts?"

"Again same scenario, explosion happens, dust and dirt goes flying in and gets trapped under the lenses and then you risk permanent blindness." Sharnid replied.

Lyra frowned, "Jeez, you're actually thinking this out for once." She muttered.

Sharnid shrugged, "Hey, it's happened in battles before… and you know Nina would be pissed if the reason we lost was simply because of a pair of glasses…that or worse, you going blind"

Lyra looked at him and squinted before turning away. He did make some good points. Her real reason was because she didn't want to go through with the surgery. It was mostly because she hated the feeling of needles and surgeries in general. They made her uncomfortable, so she'd do anything but surgeries.

Lyra soon let out a sigh. "Speaking of battles… what happened with the attack?"

Sharnid shrugged, "Meh, the usual. Layfon found the nest, destroyed the queen, baby filth monsters run away, then end."

Lyra nodded her head, slowly. "And everyone from the platoon is all right?" she asked.

Sharnid let out a nervous chuckle, "Heh, everyone is fine, yeah. Just a couple scratches, but it was fine, you however are as good as dead, my dear."

Lyra blinked at that. "Me? Why? What'd I do?"

Sharnid shrugged, "You tell me. What happened on the field?" he asked.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Sharnid smirked, "Well first off, you just lie there and nearly get yourself killed and then suddenly you're running across the field like a bolt of lightning…"

"Bolt of lightning?" Lyra interrupted him.

Now Sharnid raised a brow. "You seriously don't remember?"

Lyra stared at the blank wall in from of her. "Well… I mean I remember the fight and helping out someone… a smack to the back of the head and that's it." She replied, thinking.

Sharnid let out a chuckle, "Well, you're missing a huge part then."

Lyra furrowed her brows, looking at him. "What part?"

"Well…" Sharnid sighed as he thought of how to explain, but just then there was a knock on the door. Both of their heads turned towards the door as they heard mumbling. "Uh oh…" Sharnid muttered and then chuckled. "Nice knowing ya, Lyra." He remarked.

Lyra frowned at that. She didn't think Nina would be _that_ mad now. After all, she didn't do anything wrong. Nina would most likely scold at her, for almost getting herself killed out of the field. "Come in." she called out.

The door went swinging open and in walked her captain and Harley right behind her. Instantly as the Captain entered, she felt cold air follow. Lyra was suddenly nervous, but didn't show it.

"Nina… please be easy…" Harley was finishing saying.

Lyra looked at the captain and saw no sort of anger on her face. She gave a light smile, waving to her.

Nina nodded her head back, "Good to see you finally awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Lyra shifted a little and then shook her head, "Well feeling a lot better now." She replied.

Nina's face brightened a little, "No pain, signs of fainting?" she asked. She was now standing right next to Lyra's bed now. Behind her Lyra saw Sharnid and Harley glance at one another. Lyra blinked and shook her head slowly, wondering what was up.

"No… nothing." She replied.

Nina sighed as she stood up straight with her eyes closed. "Well that's good to know… Mind telling me what happened out on the field then?" Lyra flinched. The captain who stood before her with a perfectly calm face, was now looming right over her, her face inches from Lyra's with the most anger filled expression ever. Lyra blinked as she leaned back a little a gulped.

"I'm sorry captain… I wasn't focusing. I know I worried you by just standing there and allowing myself to get hit in the back, but…"

"I'm not talking about that act. I mean after that, when you bolted across the field, destroying all the filth monsters with it."

Lyra bit her lip as she tried to think. "I honestly don't remember that, Captain. Are you sure it was me?"

"I know it was you. We all saw it!" Nina growled, doing her best not to get angry.

Lyra sighed as she thought. There was one attack that was popping in her mind and it would explain the pain she was feeling. But that was a move that Lyra vowed she would only use as a last minute resort. That was probably it.

However, before Lyra could reply, Nina let out a sigh. "Oh well… right now I shouldn't be putting the pressure on you like this. Right now you should focus on getting better." She suddenly said.

Lyra blinked, "Huh?"

Harley and Sharnid both had the same expression of surprise.

Nina just nodded her head and then smiled, "Well I have to get to work. I just wanted to come see you first. Get better soon." She waved and then turned around, leaving the room.

"Hey- Nina!" Harley called after her, "Um… Gotta go too. Sorry Lyra. See ya later!" he said and went after the captain.

Lyra just blinked staring at the door. A laugh from Sharnid reminded her that he was still there.

Lyra frowned looking at him as he continued to laugh.

"That was not expected at all. Wow… she's pissed." He remarked.

Lyra just shook her head. She didn't understand the whole concept of getting angry because of what she did. After all, she did manage to survive and help prevent the filth monsters from breaking into Zuellini right?

So what she did should have made Nina happy. After all, the captain would do what ever she could to protect Zuellini and Lyra wanted to help.

Suddenly Lyra heard a snapping noise. She blinked and looked to see Sharnid's fingers in front of her face in a snapping position.

Lyra shook her head and looked at him. "Sorry, what?" she asked.

"You okay?" Sharnid asked. From the sound of his voice, he actually seemed concerned.

Lyra just shrugged, "I wish I knew what you all were talking about." She replied.

Sharnid sighed as he stretched. "Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure that you'll remember what happened in the next couple days. I mean, you just woke up, remember that and you took some pretty bad hits." He noted.

Lyra nodded her head slowly. "And that makes Captain mad why?"

"Probably because you were holding back from us the entire time. She was pretty pissed when Layfon suddenly let out all this power during our first platoon match." He explained.

Lyra tensed. Of course, that would be a reason, but she still wanted to know what she did.

Lyra then sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know…" she trailed off at the knock on the door.

Both Sharnid and Lyra looked up as the door opened and in walked the nurse.

"I have everything set up now. Shall we head to the examine room?" she asked.

Lyra nodded her head slowly as she shifted, attempting to sit up straight. She could feel her muscles protesting as she moved so suddenly and paused to cringe.

"Whoa, you okay?" Sharnid asked, raising a brow as he noticed the cringe.

Lyra nodded her head. "Perfectly fine."

Sharnid smirked as he leaned back in the chair again, "Okay, if you say so."

"Please don't move so suddenly. It's going to hurt." The nurse spoke up.

Lyra eyed her. _No kidding?_ Was her thought to the comment, "So how am I supposed to move?"

"Well you can move, but just carefully." She explained.

Lyra raised a brow, but then shrugged, "Alrighty then." She muttered as she slowly lifted her legs, pulling them in, before turning to swing them off the bed. The nurse had taken a couple steps forwards while Sharnid stood up from the chair to help, but Lyra just continued on her own and soon she slid out of bed. She looked up at the two, smiling with satisfaction.

"There. See? No problems." She remarked. However, as soon as she took a step forwards, her legs gave out and she went falling backwards.

"Whoa now," Sharnid chuckled as he took a step forwards and moved his arm behind her as she landed against it and pulled her in, before she had a chance to slip out.

Lyra blinked her eyes open as he caught her and found herself looking into his eyes.

Sharnid smiled, closing them. "Let's not celebrate too early now." He remarked.

Lyra blushed and shook her head as he helped her stand up straight again.

"Are you alright, Lyra?" the nurse asked walking over.

Lyra nodded her head as she straightened herself up. "I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting that…" she replied.

The nurse nodded her head and then lifted to show her a pair of jeans and a shirt. "Perhaps you would like to change into these. I'm sure you don't want to walk around in a gown. Your friend brought these earlier."

Lyra tensed as she looked down and found herself wearing a hospital gown. She blushed as she noticed that. "Umm. Yeah. I think I'm going to change."

"Aww… but Lyra-chan looks cute in it." Sharnid remarked.

Lyra looked at him, raising a brow.

"Aw come on, I mean it!" he protested.

Lyra nodded her head slowly. "I'm going to head to the bathroom and change now." She said as she slowly started to head towards the bathroom.

"Do you need help?" The nurse asked.

"I'll be fine." She replied.

"Are you sure?" Sharnid asked.

Lyra looked back, raising a brow. This time, the nurse had looked as well.

Shanrid looked at the two. "I was kidding!" he protested, jumping back with his hands in front of him.

"Yeah… I'll be right back." Lyra replied as she limped off towards the bathroom.


	10. Chapter 10

Days had gone by and Lyra was finally released from the hospital. It was earlier than she expected, but she wasn't going to complain. She had started to get impatient, just sitting there and going through the same routines of walking down the hall and around, back to her room to make sure her muscles didn't stiffen up.

Though she was still sore, Lyra made sure that the nurses and doctors didn't find out, or else she would be stuck there longer and that was something Lyra did not want. However, while recovering, Lyra did discover one thing.

She figured out what happened on the battlefield with the filth monsters. Though she wasn't sure how, but everything came rushing back. The battle, the attack she did and most importantly the memory of her last moments in Noemi.

It was strange though. Every time Lyra had that dream, her brother was part of it, but this time it was different. Her brother was not in it. It was only his friend, but his face was a blur and he was telling her that her brother was dead.

That was the second time Lyra had a dream like that the first time it had been back in Grendan. That was when she was first told that her brother had died, in a dream that is. Lyra wasn't sure whether she should believe it or not.

"Ah… what the hell?" Lyra groaned as she rubbed her eyes and then blinked. She still couldn't see very well, but luckily she was capable of walking through the city with out bumping into anyone. That and there were signs along the windows of the buildings and that's how Lyra managed to find the glasses shop, one of the nurses was talking about.

It was known to have some pretty good styles and for a good price, which is what Lyra was hoping for.

Lyra was about to enter, when she heard her name being called.

Turning around, she saw that it was her captain jogging her way. Lyra tensed. Why was Nina here? More so, was she still angry? Lyra still didn't understand the whole reason why her captain would be angry over something like that.

"Hello captain." She smiled, greeting her.

"Good to see you finally out of the hospital. How are you?" she asked as she reached her.

Lyra studied the way she was speaking and her body language. From the looks of it, she didn't seem angry or anything. Lyra just shrugged, moving her hands away from the door. "I'm still a little sore, but I'll manage. How about you all? I never got a chance to ask you guys how you were after the attack."

"Luckily we were all fine. Though Layfon had a couple small injuries… Do you want to go get lunch? We can talk then." She offered.

Lyra blinked. "Well… sure, but can we stop here first. I would like to see again."

Nina furrowed her brows as if confused, but it cleared up. "That's right. Sharnid told me about your eyesight. Come on lets go. I'll help you pick out a pair." She offered as she headed into the store.

Lyra blinked as she watched her captain walk in and then shook her head and followed after.

Entering in, Lyra looked around. "Wow…" was all she was able to say. There were shelves of frames all in different types of designs. Looking ahead, Lyra saw that Nina was already talking with one of the women at the desk. The woman looked up seeing Lyra and smiled.

"Ah, you must be Lyra then? May I see your prescription?" she asked.

Lyra nodded her head, pulling the paper out of her bag and showed it to the woman.

The woman read it and furrowed her eyes, "Oh my, this is pretty strong." She then looked up at Lyra and smiled, "Right this way, ma'am.

Lyra nodded and then looked at Nina and the two followed her back.

"Now you are free to pick out whichever frames you want though the prices vary, depending on the style. The pricing should be on a tag attached to the right side of the frame." She explained pointing it out.

Lyra nodded her head. "Okay, thank you." She said.

The woman nodded her head, "

Picking out the frames wasn't that difficult of a job. Lyra and Nina both decided she should go for a basic, thin-framed pair so that there wouldn't be any trouble seeing past them, when looking through her peripheral vision, though Lyra was going to have to learn to depend on the amount of kei given off by the enemies, so that there were no surprise attacks. Not that learning was an issue. She was already pretty good at it, but would now have to depend more on it.

"So this one will do right?" Lyra asked as she put on a pair of black, thin-framed glasses. The pricing wasn't that bad either.

Nina nodded her head, "Yeah those are perfect. At least I think."

Lyra looked through the mirror examining her self. She had put her hair up in different styles while debating. "Yeah… let's go with this." She decided as she took the pair off.

The two then headed to the front desk where the lady was typing away. "Are you all set?" she asked.

Lyra nodded her head. "Yes ma'am."

The woman just nodded her head as she typed away on the computer. She then looked up at Lyra, "Well, lucky for you, we'll have your glasses done within an hour."

Lyra blinked, "that fast?"

The woman nodded, "Of course, we have our lab right here and so there's no shipping issue." She explained.

Lyra's face brightened, "Okay that works then." She then looked at Nina, "Wanna do lunch then while we wait?"

Nina nodded her head, "Sounds like a plan to me." She replied.

They were at an outdoor food court. Nina had picked the spot since Lyra had never eaten there before.

Lyra looked around the place. Though she couldn't see that far, she was able to make out a couple areas. It was a nice scene, with a fountain a little off. There were couples standing around it, arm in arm, talking, laughing, and enjoying their time.

Lyra couldn't help but smile at that. It was nice to she couples happy like that. Lyra always wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship, but she couldn't. She had a job to do here and going into a relationship would just distract her from her job.

That and there wasn't anyone that Lyra had actually taken interest in. There were a couple people that hit on her, but Lyra just ignored them.

A cough interrupted Lyra's thoughts. She shook her head quickly and looked up at Nina, who was waiting, trying to get her attention. "Sorry, you want to ask me something don't you?"

"I just want to know what happened to you on the battlefield" she replied, looking Lyra straight in the eyes.

Lyra's expression straightened instantly and she lowered her head to look at the table. "Well… you remember me telling you about what happened to my city right?"

Nina's eyes narrowed slightly as she nodded her head slowly.

Lyra sighed as she continued, "It was a memory. I was remembering what happened." She explained.

Nina sighed as she moved back in her chair. "Layfon told me about you not remembering everything from your past and that with everything happening, it was probably making you remember what you had forgotten." She then scooted forwards, "But then… what about after you came to, what happened. You stood there confused for a bit and then suddenly bolted across the field."

Lyra thought for a second. She herself didn't exactly know what she did. "I just… had enough, I guess." She replied.

"How is it you just had enough?" Nina asked.

"Well the fight was getting overwhelming." Lyra replied.

"But that was the first time I ever saw you release that much kei." Nina objected.

Lyra sighed, "I can't use those types of attacks every day now Nina. You saw what it did to me afterwards. I could barely move afterwards."

"So then why hold back? Sometimes you have better control on them, if you continuously practice those attacks. You don't have to use your full strength in them, but still you should try weaker versions of the attack." Nina went on.

Lyra shook her head. "Some attacks only work with the intention of killing."

Lyra saw Nina tense at that response. Her captain then looked away, lost in thoughts. Lyra could probably understand why she would be confused. After all, Nina didn't know anything about Lyra. She didn't know what Lyra and her brother used to do and what they were assigned to do. All Nina knew was that Lyra was a girl who was first in biology studies, before transferring into the military arts when enrolled in Zuellini.

Soon their food was here. Lyra wasn't that hungry and had ordered some pasta. Nina appeared to have done the same. As they ate, it was silent. Nina still seemed to be thinking a lot.

Lyra sighed as she twirled her pasta in her fork. One thing she learned about Nina was that she thought a lot. Of course everyone did that, but being a captain at an age where most weren't given permission to, Nina had to prove that she was capable and that meant understanding all of her platoon members.

So far from Lyra had seen the platoon that Nina had assembled was a pretty complicated one. There was Felli, who did what she felt like doing and then Sharnid the same exact way. Then there was Harley, Nina's childhood friend, but he was just the dite maintenance guy. And then there were two members who had unusual, unexplained pasts and when she tried to understand them, she got frustrated.

Lyra sighed. Now she understood why being a platoon captain would be difficult.

Once she was finished, Lyra leaned back in her chair. "Ah… that was actually pretty good. You know some pretty good places captain." She remarked.

Nina looked up smiling as she grabbed a napkin a wiped her mouth. "Glad to know you liked it. I normally come here for dinner time, but figured, I'd show you the place now since we were in the area." She explained.

Lyra nodded her head, "Thanks. That was really good."

Nina nodded her head and then moved back as she finished as well. She then glanced down at her watch, "Well it's almost been an hour. Wanna head back to pick up you glasses so you can see again?" she asked.

Lyra's face brightened. "Of course!" she remembered as she stood up. She dug in her pocket, searching for money, but Nina stopped her. "Don't worry this was my treat."

Lyra blinked as she was about to protest, but Nina smiled, "Like I said, it was my treat." She replied as she stood up as well. She dug in her pocket, pulling out her own money, and placing it on the table. She then looked at Lyra, "Come on! Let's go get your glasses so you can see again!" she said. For some reason she sounded really excited. Lyra knew that was a bad thing. Most likely it was going to be the captain was going to want to spar to "test out her sight and plan for the next platoon match." Lyra knew that was coming.

Arriving to the shop again, Lyra and Nina entered the shop. The same woman was there, expecting them.

"Hello again!" she started, happily.

"Hi" Lyra greeted her and then looked at the small case, "Are those mine?" she asked.

The lady nodded her head. "Yes they are. I just need to do a last minute fitting to see if they will stay on right and then, they're all yours." She explained as she led them towards a small table. Lyra sat down in a chair across from the woman, while Nina looked around at the different frames.

After making a couple more adjustments, Lyra put them on again. She then smiled and nodded. "Perfect!" she smiled.

The woman smiled as well. "Good. They're all yours then. Enjoy!" she smiled and watched the two leave.

Lyra sighed as she looked around. She could actually see again. Though it felt weird having something sitting on the bridge of her nose. That and she had a limited view of what she could see perfectly with out turning her head. This would be annoying for a while…

"So how are they?" Nina asked, seeing Lyra excited.

"I can actually see!" she said and then lifted them off of her eyes then back on, "Still need to get used to the fact that something is here, but I'll manage." She explained.

"Good! How about we test them out in a spar?" Nina asked.

Lyra couldn't help but laugh a little. "How did I see that coming?"

Nina just raised a brow. She was about to speak, but suddenly they saw pink petals around them.

Lyra blinked taking a step back, before realizing it was Felli. "Hey there Felli, what's up?" she asked.

"_My brother needs to speak with you all. Please hurry."_ She replied.

Lyra raised a brow and watched as Nina started to walk quickly. "Lyra, come on!" Nina called.

Lyra jumped and followed, "But what for?" she asked. The pink petals were still around them, following them.

"_We've gotten a strange distress signal. My brother will explain everything when you come. I've sent word to the others to come as well."_ She explained and then the petals floated off.

Lyra blinked. _Distress signal?_

Nina shook her head. "That doesn't sound good. Come on! We need to hurry!" she said as she sprinted off.

"Hey! Wait!" Lyra called, sprinting after her.

Arriving to the building. Nina and Lyra entered it slowly and headed towards the elevator. Lyra pressed the button to call it down and the light came up saying it was coming. Nina stood there, tapping her foot impatiently. Lyra herself was a little impatient. Distress signal… What could it be from? No… more like: whom could it be from? The elevator dinged, signaling it had arrived. The door opened and the two stepped in.

"Have you guys ever had this before?" Lyra asked as the door shut and the elevator started to go up again.

Nina shook her head, "Not in the three years I've been

Lyra nodded her head slowly as she stared at the lights, which were signaling which floor they were passing.

Finally it came to a halt on the top floor. The door opened to reveal a woman in a navy blue business suit. "Ah, hello. You two are finally here. Come this way. I'll take you to where the others are waiting." She said as she started to walk off.

Nina and Lyra followed after the woman. They arrived in a room to see Layfon, Harley and Sharnid sitting there on the couches. The three looked up as the two girls entered.

"Ah finally made it." Sharnid waved to the two. He then whistled. "Lyra-chan looks cute with her new glasses on."

Lyra blinked and raised a brow at that, but then shrugged, smiling. "Thanks." She said as they sat down on one of the couches.

"They really do look nice, but are you sure, glasses were a good idea?" Harley asked.

Lyra shrugged, "I don't know exactly… but I would have had to wait for the surgery anyways, so I may as well have some way to see."

Harley nodded, "I guess that makes sense then..." he muttered. Layfon hadn't said anything yet. He seemed to be troubled a bit but looked up at Lyra and smiled.

Just then the door opened again and then Layfon's expression straightened as they all looked to see a tall man entering. Lyra narrowed her eyes slightly. He was pretty good looking. She had to admit that, but that wasn't the reason she was staring at him. Something seemed very familiar about that man, but she wasn't sure what. Behind him a red haired girl appeared. Lyra blinked as she recognized her from the recent filth monster attack. She was the one that pushed Lyra out of the way of the filth monster, which meant the man was the one who blocked it in the first place. That wasn't the reason she recognized him though.

Lyra's eyes traveled along his uniform. From the looks of it, he was in the military arts and then her eyes landed on the badge. It had a five, which meant he was from.

She then looked at the red haired girl, who was frowning. "What are you all doing here?" she asked with her hand crossed. She sent a glare at Layfon and then looked at Lyra and smirked, before looking away.

Lyra raised a brow at the girl.

Nina stood up from the couch and walked over to where the man was. "You're the captain of the fifth platoon correct?" she asked.

The man nodded his head, "I am. Gorneo Luckens. And this is Shante." You're Nina Antalk, Captain of the seventeenth platoon?"

Lyra blinked. Luckens?

Nina nodded her head, "That's correct. Did the president call you all in as well?" she asked.

Gorneo nodded his head. Lyra looked away, but couldn't help but keep glancing. Luckens? Could he really be…?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door was opened once again. This time it was the president who came walking in. Behind him was Felli. As the president, stopped in the doorway, Felli just walked ahead to join her platoon members.

"I'm so glad you all could make it." The president started happily as he clapped his hand once. He then headed over to one of the couches not being used and sat down, with his legs crossed.

Everyone watched as the president moved. Nina was the first to speak. "You said that this was really important?"

The president's face darkened. "Just an hour ago, we received a distress signal from another city." He started. "This city isn't that far off from us. And strangely enough Zuellini has decided to head in that direction and with that being the case. I want to know what's happening before we reach it." He explained.

"And you want us to go?" Gorneo asked.

The president nodded his head and before he could speak the red haired girl, Shante spoke.

"We can handle this job on our own. There's no need for _them_ to come." She remarked pointing straight towards Layfon. Layfon flinched from the sudden glare sent his way, though he didn't say anything.

"Shante!" Gorneo hissed as he placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back.

Shante blinked looking at him. "But Goro…"

Gorneo shook his head and looked at the President. "My apologies for that." He said and then looked towards Nina and then Layfon, bowing slightly.

The professor just smirked, "Quite alright. The reason why I'm asking both of you teams to team up is because we don't know what we're facing against. Rather than risking it, it's better to have two platoons go. And both of you hold some powerful members so I have confidence that you will do well."

All of them nodded their heads, understanding.

Lyra looked around and saw that all of them had a serious expression for once as they listened. Though she found it strange.

"Do you by any chance have a recording of the message?" she suddenly asked. She felt the others look at her, but ignored them.

The president looked at her as well thoughtfully as if he knew what she was thinking, but didn't say anything, but just nodded his head and then turned towards one of his secretary nodding to her.

The secretary nodded as she pulled out a small, black stereo looking object. "We recorded the message on here." The president explained as the secretary pressed a button.

At first there was just static. All of them leaned in to try and make out something, but nothing was playing. Suddenly there was a loud, shrilling noise that came, followed by someone cursing and then a crash.

Everyone jumped back as the shrilling echo of the filth monster rang through the area.

After the initial reaction, they all came close to it again to hear what the man was saying. His voice was breaking as he tried to speak. "This is Keigo, a military officer from the city Minerva… We.. attack—filth monsters— Requesting aid—surrounding cities—" The message cut off after that.

"And that's all we could get from it. But as the man said. They were attacked by filth monsters and had no way of escaping." The president explained.

Lyra narrowed her eyes as she listened to the video. The noises in the background… they seemed so familiar.

"Something wrong Lyra?" Nina asked slightly concerned.

Lyra looked up, seeing them all look at her and then shook her head. "Oh… no I'm fine. Sorry." She apologized.

Nina just looked at her suspiciously. Lyra watched. She knew her captain didn't believe her, but she was not going to say anything here.

The president then clapped his hands. "Well then. That's all I had for you. I want you guys to be ready as soon as possible. I'd like a good report with plenty of time to prepare, just in case." He said.

Everyone nodded his or her head as they all got up, starting to head out.

"Well this is going to be fun." Sharnid remarked from behind Lyra. He hadn't a single word the entire time the president was speaking, which surprised her.

Lyra sighed. She knew he was talking to her.

Lyra just looked back and gave a smile, "I'm sure it's going to be a blast." She replied as they headed towards the elevator.

Lyra sighed as she walked down the street of the city. She was on her way back now. After the president gave his orders, Nina decided that everyone should go get some rest now and then she would discuss with them what she and Gorneo decided.

The message kept playing in her head. Lyra couldn't help but shiver hearing the shrilling cry of the filth monster in the background. It was such a horrible sound. The shrilling cry, bouncing off of the walls of the building, reminded her of Noemi. Her home. It made her think of the city. The small flower looking girl. She was literally a doll.

She missed how the fairy would suddenly appear, circling her and pulling her places. Lyra would then always have to lead the tricky little fairy back to the heart of the city and stay there with her, until she would agree to listen.

Lyra sighed in frustration. How she wished she had stayed back to save the fairy. She really wanted to, but in the end, she was forced to flee. That's why she wanted to get stronger. She didn't want to be the one told to run away. No… she wanted to stay and fight them for their city.

"Lyra!" Lyra jumped as she heard her name. She quickly shook her head, clearing and then turned to see Layfon coming her way.

"Layfon… what are you doing here? Something wrong?" she asked.

Layfon came to a stop, pausing for a second to take a breath. He then looked at her. "I was just wondering if you're alright." He started.

Lyra blinked and then raised a brow, "I'm sorry?"

"I know something's bothering you. You made it pretty obvious back at the meeting." He went on.

Lyra nodded her head slowly, "Oh that… well I was just thinking that's all. Nothing wrong. Really?"

Layfon sighed, "Come on Lyra, who do you take me for?" he asked.

Lyra sighed, "Not possible to lie to you…"

Layfon shrugged, "Well you don't do that great of a job." He replied. Lyra shrugged at that. It was true though. "So seriously what's wrong?"

Lyra sighed as she shrugged, "I was just remembering Noemi, that's all." She explained.

Layfon looked at her sympathetically and then sighed, "Hearing that brought back memories I'm assuming?" he asked.

Lyra just nodded her head as she looked at the sidewalk ahead of her as they walked on.

Layfon sighed. He knew exactly what Lyra was thinking. She wanted to save them, but couldn't. "Lyra you know they needed someone to continue the legacy for them."

"But why me?" she objected, "I barely knew how to fight?"

"But you still had time to learn."

"Still doesn't make sense. In the end, nothing's changed. Another city has been lost…"

Layfon sighed, shaking his head. "Not every city can be saved. You know that. How are you supposed to travel from one city to another? It's not easy. The only reason you got here easily was because of the queen and you know that."

Lyra frowned shaking her head. He knew how this was a sensitive topic to her, yet he always stated the facts. Lyra then let out a sigh, "I guess that's true… Well I'm going to head back to my room now. Toodles!" She smiled and waved to him as she headed back.

Layfon watched her leave. "Uh… bye." He called as she hurried off. He then sighed and turned around, heading back to his own room.

_**(A/N: Just for some clarification, this is based off of the light novel and the anime/manga. The story starts from before their run in with the Haikizukou. I've combined the three and added a little twist. The story plot is the same, but I've changed around some of the events and added my own. I realized that this may have been a little confusing for a couple, who are trying to figure out when this was taking place, but I hope I've cleared it up some now!)**_


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